A primary school’s long-awaited move into a new building has been given the go-ahead.

Halfway Houses is due to relocate to the former Danley Middle School site in Danley Road in September 2016.

The move will see the primary increase from two-form entry to three-form entry, with its reception class intake expanding from 60 to 90 pupils.

The new two-storey building, with an estimated cost of more than £3 million, will include a games court, sports pitches and 81 car parking spaces.

The Education Funding Agency’s Priority School Building Programme and Kent County Council will finance the project.

Danley Middle School closed in 2009. Halfway Houses’ relocation to the derelict site is due to the proposed housing increase in the area.

The move was confirmed on Thursday night at a Swale council planning meeting.

Cllr Richard Darby (Ukip), representative for Queenborough and Halfway ward and a member of the committee, said: “I fully support the school being there, but I have some concerns about parking around Danley and Filer Road.”

During the consultation period, the council received 24 letters of objection in relation to the move.

Concerns included the potential for increased traffic, and a lack of drop-off and pick-up points for school staff.

Sport England also spoke out against a proposal to build a car park over a playing field at the new site.

It has since confirmed it had no objections as a revised plan showed a cricket pitch was being retained. To alleviate traffic problems at the new school, a voluntary one-way system from St Katherine’s Road and Filer Road is planned.

Cllr Darby said the future of the current Halfway Houses site in Queenborough Road had yet to be decided.

He said: “I’d like to see it as a community hub for the area. It would be well and truly justified at this moment in time because of all the houses being built in Halfway.”