Hertsmere MP Oliver Dowden has met with county council officials to discuss plans for new schools in the borough.

Mr Dowden met with Cllr Harvey Cohen, cabinet member for planning at Hertsmere Borough Council, and Cllr Terry Douris, cabinet member for education at Hertfordshire County Council at his office in the House of Commons last week.

With thousands of new homes forecast to be built across Hertsmere over the coming years, Mr Dowden is pressing to make sure the infrastructure is in place to meet the inevitable demand.

Following the meeting, Mr Dowden said: “If we build more homes, we must have the infrastructure to match.

“That’s why I met recently with both the borough and county councils to understand their plans for schools in Hertsmere.

“Current capacity is already under pressure and to deal with this, and any future growth, sites for schools need to be found as soon as possible in the Hertsmere local plan.

“I secured assurances from both councils that this process is well underway and I will be monitoring their progress closely over the coming months.”

The division of local government responsibilities means that Hertfordshire County Council are in charge of approving plans for new schools, while Hertsmere Borough Council must find the sites for them in the local plan.

The local plan is an ongoing process and the borough council are examining a wide range of options to meet the government’s targets for house building. In September 2017, Hertsmere Borough Council published its ‘Issues and Options Report’ which set out its first ideas, including a new garden village, urban extensions and brownfield development.

The next stage will be the ‘Preferred Options Report’ which will set out in detail the plans for the future of the borough. This is due to be published in September this year.

There is currently a planning application in place to build a primary school in Cowley Hill near Hertswood Academy as part of a project to build 58 houses in Potters Lane.