A former school campaigner has blasted plans for a new secondary school on Green Belt land in Carpenders Park.

Hertfordshire County Council wants to buy a section of land at Carpenders Park Farm in Oxhey Lane for a new school.

Education chiefs admit it will help tackle the growing demand for school places – despite two new schools being set up in Croxley Green and Mill End.

But campaigners have criticised the council’s planning because a number of schools have been shut across south west Hertfordshire in the last twenty years.

Langleybury School, Sir James Altham Comprehensive School, William Penn School and Durrants School in Croxley Green are among those to have been closed.

Diana Harnett, who campaigned to keep the Sir James Altham Comprehensive School open in the late 1980s, said: “I am absolutely devastated.

“I can still hear the words of the council ringing in my ears. They said there would not be enough kids on the estate to justify keeping it open. The Sir James Altham School would have been ideal. It was only five minutes away from this here.

“At the moment the kids are being shipped off to here, there and everywhere and the parents are having to pay for the travel.

“There are more people coming on to the estate and they should have thought about that.”

Research by transport planning consultants Phil Jones Associates suggested the main catchment area would be for children in South Oxhey.

The pressure on school places in Watford has been listed as one of the major reasons for the scheme.

The land could cost £950,000 and Hertfordshire County Council’s cabinet will be asked to approve the buying of the land next Tuesday.

In 2010, Three Rivers District Council’s former head of development plans told a Watford Rural local area forum that there were no suitable sites for a school in South Oxhey.

But in 2013, the county council came under fire for the amount it was spending “mothballing” sites by not selling or developing them.

Speaking then, Cllr Derrick Ashley told the Watford Observer “We have held onto properties for a very long time in some circumstances because we wanted to be absolutely certain before we dispose of anything that it’s not likely to be in need in the future.”

Cllr Chris Hayward, Cabinet Member for Resources, said: “A rising and sustained demand for school places across South West Herts is forecasted. While new provision is being planned we need to continue to ensure that sufficient places will be available in the future.

“Cabinet is therefore being asked to approve the acquisition of land in Carpenders Park in Watford to provide a site with potential for a secondary school to help to meet this demand in the longer term.

“Opportunities such as this, to buy sufficient land on the open market are few and far between.

“Should the acquisition be approved, the land will be managed as part of our rural estate and possibly let out for grazing until such time that it would be needed.”