ALMOST 3,000 new school places will have to be created across Tendring over the next ten years to cope with spiralling demand.

Education bosses at County Hall say a whopping 22,000 new places will be needed across Essex over the next decade.

They say more than 20 new schools will need to be built countywide.

The figures include 2,921 places in Tendring – 1,526 in primary schools and 1,395 in secondaries.

Only Colchester is expected to see a bigger increase, with a massive 4,942 extra places.

Tendring is earmarked for at least one new primary in the next decade.

County Hall education boss Ray Gooding said: “We have an excellent track record of investing in new school places and spent about £74million creating more than 2,500 places ahead of September 2017.

“As a result, we were able to offer a record percentage of primary and secondary school pupils their parents’ preferred places for the latest academic year, which is an outstanding achievement in the current climate.

“Despite our successes, we recognise that the county is continuing to grow and a further 22,000 new school places will be needed over the next decade.

“We remain committed to ensuring Essex has the infrastructure it needs to grow and have outlined plans to spend a further £87million on mainstream school projects as part of our ambitious £300million budget proposals.”