MORE new houses need to be built and sold before an expected £1 million funding pot to expand a popular school becomes fully available.

Funding for the extension of Archbishop Rowan Williams Church in Wales Primary School, which has been close to capacity for at least the past two years, is linked to money promised to MCC by housing developers.

The councillor in charge of education, Labour’s Laura Wright, said a timeframe for when a planned classroom extension for the Portskewett school can be built is dependent on the housing developments.

She said the council has invoiced the developers for “some of” the money it is owed under a Section 106 legal agreement which governs payments for community benefits linked to planning permissions. It has requested the cash as Cllr Wright said the “relevant number of houses have either been sold or occupied”.

She said: “However the amount isn’t immediately sufficient to develop a classroom extension as envisioned as being needed. When the remaining funds are received from the developer it will be feasible to undertake the work.

Two years ago there was a row between the Conservatives and the ruling Labour group over a decision to allocate more than £400,000 paid to the council, from earlier housing developments, to a primary school in Caldicot rather than Archbishop Rowan Williams.

At the time, Conservative councillor for Portskewett, and the Conservatives, claimed some of the cash should have gone to the Portskewett school which was just four places short of its 210 pupil capacity.

But the council cabinet said the money wouldn’t have covered the work required at the school but its expansion could be funded from an expected £1.1m due from the other local housing developments.