A SECONDARY school could be set to miss out on almost £20,000 of extra funding after a row broke out over a planned new entrance.

Churchfields School in Walcot was successful in its bid for the Safer Routes to Schools cash to build a pedestrian only entrance from its playing field on to Queens Drive.

But Swindon Council says if an entrance is built, it must be on neighbouring Upham Road because it is unsafe for hundreds of pupils to exit onto a dual carriageway.

If the school does not agree to having the new entrance there it is faced with losing the funding altogether.

Headteacher Steve Flavin said the Queens Drive exit would lead directly to a pedestrian crossing, while if it was built on Upham Road pupils would face a bus lane.

He said: "Our bid has been successful and we are going to make a planning application, but if the council insist on having the gate in Upham Road we may miss out.

"As a school we work very closely with the community and all of us want the entrance to be in Queens Drive."

The school has the support of Walcot residents, who are unhappy at having several hundred youngsters pouring into their quiet streets twice a day.

Upham Road resident Susan York, 54, a retired health visitor, said: "If the new entrance is in Upham Road it will mean hundreds of pupils pouring in and out of the school early in the morning and in the afternoon. If the council is so concerned about safety then it should make Queens Drive a 20 mile an hour zone, as all roads near schools should be.

"New College has an entrance directly on to Queens Drive, and the new homes being built there do too, so I don't see why Churchfields should be any exception."

Since the closure of Park North's Oakfield School in 2000, Churchfields has accepted hundreds of people from the Parks estate.

Both of the school's two entrances face Old Town and the Lawns, and Mr Flavin is keen to build an entrance facing the Parks to give it a more welcoming face to students.

Swindon Council spokesman Gavin Calthrop, speaking on behalf of the transportation services department, said: "There is a consultation process regarding the possibility of a new pedestrian entrance to Church-fields School.

"Establishing pedestrian entrances on to major radial routes such as Queens Drive is not traditionally considered good practice.

"However all options are being carefully considered."

n Safer Routes to Schools is a council run scheme set up to encourage parents and pupils to use alternative ways of getting to school.

Every year the council has a pot of cash that schools are encouraged to submit bids for.

The council is keen to cut down on the number of cars outside schools and hence make the roads safer.

Schemes that are successful make it easier for pupils to walk or cycle to school, or facilitate car sharing and more students using public transport.

Most of the bids the council receives are for new bus shelters but other projects that have been paid for include the introduction of 20 mile an hour zones around schools, traffic calming or in the case of Churchfields, a pedestrian only entrance.