MORE pupils could soon be admitted to Wilmslow High School, after Cheshire East council cabinet members moved the school’s proposed expansion a step further.

Councillors voted through plans to begin sourcing a contractor for the works, which will cost £12m and increase places per year from 300 to 360 for years 7-11.

Currently, there is a 111-place shortfall at the school, which is forecast to rise to 257 by 2025.

At the council cabinet meeting where the plans were approved, Conservative Cllr Michael Beanland said the investment was coming ‘at a critical time for the children of Wilmslow’.

His sentiments were echoed by independent deputy leader Cllr Craig Browne, who added that he felt the school grounds were becoming ‘overdeveloped’ and any future expansion should come in the form of a completely new school.

The approval now means the blueprints just need planning permission to go ahead, with work scheduled to start in spring 2021 and finish for September 2023.

Work will be done to ‘remodel various internal spaces’ as well as ‘a single-storey extension to the main building, a further extension linking the existing Olympic Hall and Sports Hall block’.

The planning application will be considered at committee on October 7.