Heathside School’s proposal to increase pupil numbers will lead to more congestion for already suffering neighbours, critics said last week.

Surrey County Council wants to vary a planning condition to increase the number of students at the Brooklands Lane school from 1,352 to 1,475.

Under the proposals, the school would take an extra 30 students annually for five years from 2016, in line with the county council's plan to create more than 16,000 school places by 2018.

The application was recommended for approval at a meeting on the west area planning subcommittee on Monday, November 24, but the Weybridge Society said it was against the proposals.

The group said traffic implications should be examined further because congestion is already bad during pick-up and drop-off times.

Dave Arnold, chairman of the society, said: "Traffic congestion in the town will increase as a consequence of Surrey Highway's failure to consider fully the traffic implications of the new Morrisons store.

"If Heathside expands, besides the impact on residential roads adjacent to the school, there will be a knock-on effect on town centre and feeder roads.

"A possible solution is joint access with the neighbouring Brooklands College perhaps incorporating a school bus system."

The society reports only three adjacent properties to Heathside School were notified of the application, which was originally for officer decision.

A decision on the application was deferred by the planning sub-committee on Monday to give time to consider a travel plan proposed by Weybridge South Councillor Glenn Dearlove.