A NEW primary school in Theale will be built after the parish council made a shock u-turn to hand over the land.

Theale Parish Council held an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday, September 11 to discuss the ongoing proposals, which have been in the pipeline for four years.

After the council voted six votes to five, the decision was made to surrender the lease on the playing fields in North Street, which will enable West Berkshire Council to progress with plans to build an £8 million primary school on the site.

The two councils became embroiled in a bitter fight after the parish council initially refused to hand over the playing fields, fearing the loss of valuable football pitches.

West Berkshire Council said in August that it had scrapped plans to build the school, claiming the parish council had not signed legal documents in time to deliberately delay the plans.

In March, residents voted in favour of releasing land for the school to be built.

A spokesman for the parish council said: "The Parish Council will release a more detailed statement in due course."

Theale councillor, Cllr Alan Macro told the BBC: "A lot of people are concerned a bigger school will mean more housing, but this will fit with what is being built already."