Plans for a new 900 place secondary school in Whiteley could see an existing secondary school in Fareham shut down.

Henry Cort Community College on Hillson Drive in Fareham has had its future cast into doubt after a recent public consultation by Hampshire County Council.

A consultation by the council took place with three options being put forward.

The first was to build the new school and keep Henry Cort but with a reduced catchment area and the second was to build the new school and close Henry Cort, with its catchment area shared between Fareham Academy and Cams Hill School.

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The third option was to relocate Henry Cort to the new North Whiteley secondary school site, with both sites being used while existing year groups filter out of the school.

The old school site would then be shut, with the remaining catchment area jointly shared between Fareham Academy and Cams Hill School.

Sarisbury and Whiteley councillor at Fareham Borough Council, Joanne Burton, has said that public response were very heavily in favour of retaining Henry Cort in its existing location with a smaller catchment area.

However, council officers have chosen to recommend the relocation of Henry Cort to Whiteley on the site of the new secondary school.

If the HCC executive member, Cllr Roz Chadd, agrees then there will be a further consultation on this proposal.

Whiteley has seen significant development in recent years, with some 4,000 homes already being built.

The new school will be built with capacity for 900 places and scope to expand to up to 1,200 in future. 

Henry Cort School Henry Cort School (Image: NQ) Cllr Burton said: "My view is that Whiteley children have had to travel outside Whiteley to Henry Cort for a generation at a cost of around £500,000 per year in school travel costs and our community's children are long overdue a secondary school within Whiteley.

"To start bussing children from north Fareham to Whiteley would be as unfair as bussing them the other way for all these years.

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"I would be keen to hear residents' views and will ensure that I make the Executive Member aware of them at her decision day on Friday 25th October. 

"I am concerned about uncertainty for families with children looking to attend secondary schools in 2027 in Whiteley and in north Fareham." 

Henry Cort was rated as 'requires improvement' at its latest full Ofsted inspection on June 13 last year.