A PRIMARY school has been forced to apply for planning permission to keep using a temporary building for its nursery class because neither it nor the county council have the money for a better one.

St Nicholas CofE in Wallingford asked South Oxfordshire District Council for permission to keep using the 'relocatable building' for another five years, or warned it would have to close its nursery.

Outlining its predicament, the school's 'organisation officer' Diane Cameron highlighted the fact that Oxfordshire County Council - the local education authority - had discussed possible impact of 'reductions in capital funding', such as this, as long ago as 2010.

She reminded the council it had 'reversed' its practice of building permanent classrooms in favour of using temporary buildings where possible, and concluded: "In light of... the current economic conditions, neither OCC nor the school have the capital funds with which to provide replacement permanent build accommodation."