OVERTON children as young as five could face a seven-mile round trip to school every day.

That is the fear of village representatives after Hampshire County Council announced its intention to spend money from a housing development in Overton on schooling facilities in Whitchurch.

Speaking at a planning appeal for the proposed Overton Hill development, education officers for the authority revealed that some of the developer’s contributions would be spent on improving schools in Whitchurch rather than in Overton.

In the formal report of the appeal, inspector David Spencer said: “I accept that both the existing primary school in Overton and the Testbourne secondary school in Whitchurch are currently at capacity and projected to remain so over a reasonable forecasting period.

“Consequently HCC’s strategy is to expand both the primary school in nearby Whitchurch and the Testbourne secondary school to accommodate the planned growth in both Overton and Whitchurch.”

The announcement has disappointed many in the village, including parish councillors who talked in detail about the issue at a recent meeting.

Councillor Paula Baker said: “We already hear from parents who are becoming extremely agitated by the schooling situation in the village.

“A lot of people are particularly worried about the idea of children from Overton having to go to Whitchurch at primary school age.”

However councillor Peter Edgar, executive member for education at Hampshire County Council, defended the situation.

He said: “We have discussed with all local schools how we can ensure children in families moving into new housing in their area will be sure to have a school place.

“Overton Primary School has been expanded fairly recently to meet pupil demand as a result of new housing.

“It is our intention however, to use the section 106 money, anticipated from future additional new housing in the Overton and Whitchurch area, to enable capacity to be increased at Whitchurch primary and Testbourne secondary schools.”

He added: “Design proposals for the shape that this will take at each school are yet to be developed.

“Our strategy remains to ensure, wherever possible, a school place exists for each child."