A brand-new secondary school has been earmarked for the coast in a bid to stop “staggering” numbers of children having to leave their hometowns for education.

Several hundred youngsters from Herne Bay and Whitstable are being forced to commute to Canterbury and Thanet due to the dearth of places locally.

The authority is currently searching for land that could accommodate a grammar or non-selective school in the area to take on many of the commuting youngsters.

Council bosses want a site accessible for children from both towns – but Conservative Ian Stockley believes it would be best to position near his ward, Beltinge.

“Most of the children I’m aware of in Beltinge and in surrounding areas who don’t pass the 11-plus end up at Spires in Sturry, near Canterbury,” he explained.

“We’ve got a major issue. We’ve got thousands of pupils from Herne Bay washing into Canterbury to go to school, which is also choking up the centre of the city.

“Up until recently, Kent County Council’s (KCC) view was we didn’t need another school, but they now think we do. They have two preferred sites.

“We’d like one at Hillborough, but KCC are resisting because they claim the access isn’t particularly good by train or bike.”

An influx of children to the area is expected as Herne Bay is earmarked for 3,000 more homes, while Whitstable is set for a further 700. Despite this, the towns have just two secondaries between them.

Canterbury City Council has also included the construction of a coastal secondary in all of the options put forward for its next Local Plan, which will act as the district’s building blueprint through to 2040.

Tankerton’s Neil Baker, who represents areas on the coast for both authorities, says the project is an “absolute priority”.

“The key thing is getting a secondary school, of whatever type, within the Local Plan because without that it won’t be built,” the Tory added.

“From Herne Bay alone, the number of kids who aren’t having their education there and going to places like Spires is staggering.

“If it isn’t built (and many of the developments in and around Canterbury go ahead), we’ll have children going further and further away from home, spending hours a day travelling.”

However, Cllr Baker thinks it will not be built until the end of this decade at the earliest.

KCC bosses are hoping to expand Herne Bay High in order to allow it to take on 45 more Year 7 pupils by 2029 to try to meet demand.

The non-selective’s principal, Jon Boyes, has frequently called for these plans to be moved forward as he turns away about 90 pupils who list his school as either their first or second choice each year.

City council spokesman Rob Davies said: “We included a coastal secondary school as one of the key infrastructure priorities across all the options for the Local Plan.

“We are working constructively with the county council to explore options for the delivery of the new school.

“We will look to identify the preferred location within the draft Local Plan, which is due for consultation later this year.”

A KCC spokesman told KentOnline: “Extra secondary school provision will be required to meet the need in the Herne Bay and Whitstable coastal area at some point in the future.

“Investigating the options is at an extremely early stage.

“The city council, as part of its review of the Local Plan and call for sites, is working with KCC to identify possible locations for new schools to meet the demand from new housing developments.

“This includes a site for a secondary school for the coastal area.”