Chris White, Lib Dem county councillor for central St Albans, has welcomed the government decision to fund the new Alban City School on Hatfield Road.

He said: ‘I have been campaigning for a new primary school in central St Albans for over five years and am delighted that at last we are seeing action. Parents can be assured that in 2012 there will be more school places in a central location – and so they won’t have to drive their children past oversubscribed primary schools in order to get their children educated.

‘There are still some practical issues to resolve but to all intents and purposes we have reached the destination so many of us have sought for so long.’

Chris added: ‘I don’t think the free school process is the most sensible way to provide new schools – after all the DfE knows nothing about St Albans and these decisions should be left to local councils. Nevertheless, a school is a school and this is brilliant news for the city centre.’

He also congratulated the county and district councils for their support for this project: ‘There were a handful of naysayers but common sense has prevailed.’