"IF A NEW school is what parents in Whiteley want - then we will do our best to try to deliver."

This is the message to parents from Hampshire County Council chief Ken Thornber as a consultation gets under way to try to resolve the schools shortage crisis in Whiteley.

However, the hope-filled pledge comes despite warnings from education officers that building a new facility to resolve children not getting into over-subscribed Whiteley Primary is just too costly.

Officers claim a new school is too expensive because government funding has been withdrawn.

However, Mr Thornber told the Daily Echo parents should not give up hope as the authority might have to bear those costs - in the interests of the community.

He said: "The officers have presented us with the facts but we have to make a final judgement on this and if we regard community interests as more important then we will have to pay those costs."

The plans will be up for discussion at a public meeting for parents on March 22.

Hundreds of homes have received an invite and documents about the proposals through the doors during the last few days.

About 30 children were refused places at Whiteley Primary this year and an estimated 70 places have been forecast for the year 2010.

As part of consultations the county council has sent out a document detailing different options, including building a new school, to be discussed with residents at a meeting later this month. The document explains that although land earmarked for a new church in the village could originally have been shared with a new school, the government has now withdrawn funding for the scheme.

Now any new building would have to be funded by the county council.

But Cllr Thornber said: "I don't want people thinking this decision has already been made because officers said it is too costly. We want to hear what parents have to say before we decide what will be done."

However, Fareham Council leader and Whiteley resident Sean Woodward thinks officers' proposals dismiss a new school outright and instead focus on getting Whiteley children places at surrounding schools like Locks Heath Infant and Park Gate Primary.

He said: "The solution is not to keep tinkering with catchment areas. It's not going to help because the fewer places there are the wider the circle will have to be."

Steve Collinson, 32, of Camargue Close, whose son was refused entry to Whiteley Primary for next year, agrees: "That might have worked before but now even the surrounding schools are filling up. They need to just bite the bullet and build a new school."

A meeting to discuss options for the Whiteley schools crisis is set to take place on March 22 at the Whiteley Community Centre in Gull Coppice at 8pm.