PARENTS on a Trowbridge estate campaigning for a new secondary school will have to wait until September to discover whether their hard-fought bid has struck gold.

The ongoing issue of a fourth secondary school, to be positioned near Paxcroft Mead, was raised at a Wiltshire County Council education scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday, with members deciding to shelve the debate until the autumn.

Chief education officer Bob Wolfson told the committee the matter needed to be delayed to gain full facts and figures covering population trends, estimated school class sizes and funding options.

Parents are worried the number of pupils at each of the town's three secondary schools will peak at over 1,600 each, if the county's expansion policy is allowed to continue.

At the public inquiry into the District Plan a space for a possible school was left east of the town but the area of land has not been specifically set aside for educational use.

At the secondary school campaign launch earlier this month West Wiltshire District councillor Duncan Hames said coaches taking pupils across the town were already packed.

He said: "This must be the end of the road for the county's old policy. It is time we built a new school for these families of west Wiltshire's new homes."

If a new school east of Trow-bridge is sanctioned it could help ease problems in Melksham where more than a thousand homes are planned on land off Spa Road.

With the opening of the new Semington bypass, any new school close to Paxcroft Mead could help ease potential class congestion problems at George Ward School Melksham's only secondary school.