A new £11.5m school to help ease pressure over the growing number of children in a rapidly-expanding Norfolk town has been given the go-ahead.

The 420-place primary school will be built at Silfield, near Wymondham, after county councillors unanimously backed the plans.

Norfolk County Council's planning committee backed the recommendation from officers to approve County Hall's plans for the new school at a meeting on Friday (June 30) morning.

Permission for the school, on land south of Rightup Lane, was given despite a number of objections over the plans.

Education chiefs at County Hall had said the new school, for children aged four to 11, was needed because Wymondham's three existing primary schools are already stretched.

READ MORE: 26 new schools to be built across Norfolk over next decade

Wymondham & Attleborough Mercury: The new school will be built off Rightup Lane in SilfieldThe new school will be built off Rightup Lane in Silfield (Image: Google Maps)

And, with around 1,500 homes planned or being built in the town, the situation would get worse without the provision of a new school.

Norfolk County Council has previously said new housing, coupled with in-year admissions from children moving to the area is "a cause for concern".

The school building will provide 14 classrooms and group rooms, along with a central
library and resource area and a multi-purpose hall.

It would also have a kitchen, toilets, changing rooms, staff and administration areas and storage rooms.

Green county councillor Paul Neale raised concerns over the method of heating the school and the number of cycle spaces - 66 - which he said was not ambitious enough.

Wymondham & Attleborough Mercury: Green county councillor Paul NealeGreen county councillor Paul Neale (Image: Norwich City Council)

But officers said that was a higher number than many schools and that many children would also walk or use scooters.

READ MORE: Work starts on new Cringleford primary school building

Four objections were received, with people living nearby worried about plans to plant trees near their gardens.

The council said the proposed tree species had been changed as a result of those objections, to ones which would not grow so tall.

The school will be run by an academy trust, not by the county council.