A public meeting being held in Alconbury later this month will provide people with an opportunity to meet the potential sponsors of a new primary school for the new Alconbury Weald development.

Plans for the design of the school, which will eventually cater for 630 pupils, will be on display and there will be a presentation from the four bidders.

The school is due to open in September 2016 for about 50 pupils per year group - 420 in total. It could be run as a ‘free school’, which would be the first in Huntingdonshire, or an academy, and is the first of three primary schools for the area.

Phase 2 of the building work will follow later to provide additional classrooms as the community grows and the school fills to 630.

Up to 5,000 new homes have been proposed for the Alconbury Weald development, which will include an employment enterprise zone, a shopping centre and a secondary school.

The meeting takes place at Alconbury C of E Primary School on Tuesday, January 27 and starts at 6pm and finishes at 9pm. After presentations from the bidders, the audience will be able to ask questions.

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “The public meeting will provide the local community with an opportunity to question the potential sponsors of the new school about their proposals.

“The performance of each sponsor at the public meeting will also contribute to the overall assessment of their suitability.

“This will be followed by an independent panel of members and officers from the county council, which will meet on February 2 to identify the preferred sponsor and make a recommendation to the Council’s Children and Young People Committee.”

Details of all the proposals received, and the county council’s preference, will be sent to the Secretary of State who will make the final decision, hopefully by late spring or early summer.