A SMALL village has unveiled ambitious £2.5m plans to build a new primary school and community hall.

A team of parents, school governors and interested parties has been working on plans for a community-led development in Bletchingdon, near Bicester, for the past 18 months.

The village does not have a nursery school, meaning many parents have to take their children elsewhere for pre-school education, while several of the schools in the surrounding villages are oversubscribed.

With the village hall also in need of replacing or revamping, villagers came up with the plan for an entirely new community development, providing a new school with a nursery and a new hall.

Negotiations with local landowners have come up with a potential site off Station Road, owned by the Duchy of Cornwall.

The village primary school currently has 65 children, but organisers are planning for 120 youngsters including the nursery.

School governor and project leader Angus Doulton said: “The problem in Bletchingdon is the school building is on quite a small narrow site.

“There is very little we can do to expand, so we have been looking at alternative options and what we could actually do.”

Mr Doulton estimated about 40 per cent of the money could be raised from selling two sites for housing, with Oxfordshire County Council providing the rest of the cash.

He said: “Lots of things have quietly turned quite favourably for us, except the current Government saying there is not going to be any money for anything.”

He said the hall and the school would be run separately, but would be able to share some costs.

Oxfordshire County Council is currently reviewing all its capital projects, and the school has been asked to provide a detailed business plan.

Mr Doulton said: “We have been told they would still hope to manage something, but we will have to wait and see.

“It would just transform this village.”