ADDITIONAL funding has been allocated for service children moving to the area as part of the Army Basing Programme.

The announcement of the additional £2.8 million in funding for Wiltshire Council was made by the Minister for School Standards Nick Gibb.

Currently, school funding is based on per pupil numbers from nearly a year before the school year starts. Most of the numbers of Army Basing children will not be counted in time by that system, raising concerns over staffing and resources for schools.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook, OBE, Leader of Wiltshire Council and Claire Perry, MP for Devizes, have been in regular contact with the government to put forward the case for additional funding to address a likely shortfall.

Baroness Scott said: “We are delighted the representations we made to the government on this unusual situation have been recognised and this necessary funding is now available.

“We’ll be reviewing the detail alongside our schools, however this announcement will take the worry away from schools and will help with their planning.

“Meanwhile, the work on the school build programme, funded separately by the Ministry of Defence, is on target and the infrastructure is taking shape to ensure Wiltshire is ready to welcome service personnel on their return in 2019.”

Wiltshire will be home to an additional 4,000 service personnel and approximately 3,200 dependants as part of the Army Basing Programme. The UK’s largest military training area will be at Salisbury Plain by 2019.

Claire Perry said: “The Army Rebasing programme will see over £1bn of investment locally, and new schools or extensions are being built across the South Wiltshire area. But head teachers including Susan Raeburn at Bulford Kiwi made me aware several years ago that the traditional process of per pupil funding following an annual census made it difficult for local schools with large increases in pupils due to re-basing moves – the money required to plan and recruit teachers was coming too late.

"After several years of campaigning by me and Baroness Scott, the DfE has agreed that our schools need more help to deal with this specific local challenge and I am absolutely delighted that we have secured this funding to support the brilliant work of our local schools and teachers.”

As well as additional school's funding, it is predicted the Army Basing Programme will also bring an economic boost to the area. A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said: “£143m is the estimated additional GVA (gross value added) economic benefit of the Army Basing programme derived from overall programme expenditure. The figure was calculated by consultancy firm Smart Analytics. The figure is derived from different factors including increase in workplace jobs, local supply chain and additional floor space as a result of increased total population and expenditure.”