THE community is being asked to draw up plans to help shape a new school for the Front Garden.

The request, put out to organisations and parents, centres around the new primary school proposed for East Wichel.

The plan to accept bids for the running of the new school is part of government legislation to encourage members of the community to get involved in school management.

The primary school will be built in the heart of the 764-acre site, which will have 3,300 homes, three schools, a canal, neighbourhood and village centres and more than 70,000sq ft of employment space.

The project, which is expected to cost approximately £1bn, will include 30 per cent affordable housing and be partially based on a green model used in Sweden.

Taylor Wimpey is already developing East Wichel, which borders Old Town's Croft Road. Nine hundred homes will eventually be built on the site.

Swindon Council hope the project will help ensure Swindon becomes a "sustainable trailblazer''.

Those interested in putting in a bid are also asked to attend a seminar on June 4 which will outline the best way forward for those looking to make proposals.

It will set out what needs to be done to be successful, explain how people and groups can get support to help them put in a bid, and clarify what needs to be done to be successful.

Councillor Garry Perkins (Con, Shaw and Nine Elms), cabinet member for children's services, says that he is happy to be helping out with the first steps towards building the new community.

He said: "Running the school will mean among other things hiring school governors.

"It is important that people get involved in this school and other schools to be built in this community. Education in any community is the most important thing because it focuses on the future of the children in that community.

"We are hoping this school will be the heart of the community."

He added that Swindon Council would also be putting in a bid to run the school.

Anyone interested in attending the invitation only seminar is asked to call Leticia D'Andrea on 020 7239 7814 or email her on ldandrea@opm.co.uk.