BEACONSFIELD High School is set to submit plans for four houses on its land – in a second bid to pay off its debt to a council.

The prestigious girls' grammar had previously planned to build 14 flats on the site of its former sixth form centre, but withdrew the scheme after fierce opposition from residents on Wattleton Road (see link below).

Executive headteacher Pete Rowe said: “We have held two consultation evenings and met with local councillors and whilst there will always be some local concerns, we have not met with the 'robust' objections our previous plan did.”

The school's financial situation hit headlines in 2010, after the Bucks Free Press revealed the previous leadership had entered into a £2 million building contract without sufficient funds in place to pay for it.

The ambitious project [including a new sixth form centre] was completed, but Buckinghamshire County Council had to bail the school out of the contract by allowing it to have a 'licensed deficit' of £1.3 million (see link below).

The ongoing deficit also appears to have prevented Beaconsfield High from applying for academy status. Every other grammar school in Buckinghamshire has already become an academy – freeing them from local authority control.

Mr Rowe added: “Sale of this land will allow us to clear our licensed deficit and it is likely at that point that we will consider a change of status to become an academy. That, of course, would be a decision for governors and our new headteacher to make in the future.”

Mr Rowe, who is also the head at Princes Risborough School, was brought in to oversee the management of Beaconsfield High, which was without a permanent headteacher (see link below).

Annette France, a 'National Leader of Education', has now been appointed to take over in April. She currently teaches at a school in Gloucestershire.