BEMUSED residents want answers over Swindon Council’s ‘wasteful’ decision to build a £500,000 temporary school which is being used by only a handful of children.

The temporary East Wichel Primary School was built at the site of Croft Sports Centre to accommodate up to 60 pupils until the permanent school, which is under construction, opens in September.

But figures presented to councillors before the decision was made to create the temporary school show it would have cost just £21,000 for the year to transport 30 children to other Swindon schools.

And contrary to predictions, only 11 pupils attend the temporary school, which is costing between £65,000 and £101,000 to staff.

Bill Cloughton, of Tismeads Crescent, is among many residents trying to find out the reasons behind the decision. He is so fed up with the lack of answers that he has set up a website to highlight his concerns.

“It’s a waste of our money. Swindon Council was presented with a problem that allegedly 30-odd pupils needed places because East Wichel School still needed to be completed,” said the 64-year-old.

“They had two choices put before them. One was to transport these children to other schools, which was going to cost £21,000, and the other was to build a temporary school, which was going to cost £500,000 and we can establish about £90,000 running costs.

“Now my problem is how did they reach their strange decision and why did they reach that decision and how can we stop them reaching such a decision in the future? But my experience is one of desperation because every single avenue that I’ve gone down, I’ve been met with silence or ignored.”

Mr Cloughton, a grandfather of six, has written to communities minister Eric Pickles and Swindon South MP Robert Buckland to ask them to investigate. He believes the council had spent so much on the temporary building because they want to keep it and use its presence to justify the development of the planned new primary school on the same site.

A Freedom of Information response from Swindon Council states that if the proposed primary school at Croft proceeds, it is ‘highly likely’ that the temporary accommodation will initially be used for this development.

Mike James, 56, of Hesketh Crescent, Croft, said: “Council tax payers ought to be concerned about the amount of money that’s been spent up there on 11 children.

“It’s not just because it’s on our front garden. It’s the fact that the council can waste that sort of money and then every day we hear about people getting rid of teachers and cuts everywhere, and yet they can throw money away like that.”

KareenBoyd, 55, of Hesketh Crescent, said she had been given official documents showing that only 12 places were allocated at the temporary school in September and all the children were from outside the catchement area.

“If you are looking at it as really a financial exercise of doing a cost benefit analysis, then it’s a shocking use of state funding or residents’ council tax.”

For more information visit Mr Cloughton’s website at www.croftcampaign.co.uk.