Serious risk to life at Woking school - council

Surrey County Council is planning "essential" works at the school

Fire safety works are needed at a Woking school where there is a "serious risk to life", according to the council.

The Winston Churchill School, in Hermitage Road, Woking, needs existing panels replaced in order to contain any fire risk, Surrey County Council said.

In a report the authority said: "The existing cladding and curtain walling system does not prevent horizontal and vertical fire spread through the main building and science block posing a serious risk to life and property should a fire start undetected."

The school has been contacted for comment.

Surrey County Council is responsible for capital, or long-term, maintenance at the school, which has 1,500 pupils.

The authority's cabinet will make a decision next Tuesday regarding the plans for what it said were "essential" works, especially in the "higher risk" areas of a four-storey block containing science laboratories.

An officers' report said: "If these works are not undertaken and the fire officer issues an enforcement notice, the school would have to vacate the affected buildings and erect temporary units on the school site thereby impacting the school’s ability to provide quality education to the students."

The anticipated timescale for the works, if approved by councillors, include a planned completion date of March 2025.

Money for the scheme would come from the council's allocated budget for minor capital works, but the cost has not yet been made public.