Construction is well under way on a controversial primary school designed to cope with extra demand from 1,200 homes being built on the former Saighton Army Camp.

The framework for the brand new Huntington Primary School on Chester Road has already been assembled even though work only started in November.

There’s no time to waste as the expected completion date is October 2018.

The current Huntington Primary School in Butterbache Road.

Cheshire West and Chester Council ’s planning committee approved its own planning application for the school in May last year.

But the decision came against a controversial background including the fact the school is on green belt land.

The two-storey school is being built on playing fields associated with the former army camp, opposite Walker’s plant nursery, with space for 420 primary-age pupils and a nursery. A replacement adult playing pitch will be provided to the south available for community use.

Computer generated images of the proposed Huntington Primary School.

The new school will replace the current facility in Butterbache Road which provides 210 places and has had to install mobile classrooms to cope with demand.

But the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) objected to the loss of green belt.

Originally the idea was the Saighton Camp housing would be served by an on-site primary school. But in January 2015 applicants GMV Eight gained consent to build another 120 homes in place of the school – and a site allocated for businesses – saying the alternative school site was preferred and there was no demand for employment land.

The under-construction Huntington Primary School.

Chester Civic Trust blamed the planning authority’s acquiescence in the face of the developer’s desire to make more profit by building extra housing where the school should have been.

Andy Scargill, chairman of Friends of North Chester Greenbelt , agreed: “A properly planned scheme would have included a new school within the site and the green belt would have been preserved.

“As things stand now, children will have to walk out of the housing estate and across two busy roads to access the new site which is an accident waiting to happen.”