OPPONENTS of the Lake Farm school scheme in Hayes, who fear the plans may be sneaked through, are to make their feelings about the project known in public.
They are to stage a demonstration on Botwell Common on Saturday, February 25.
The proposals were discussed during a private part of last months Hillingdon Council cabinet meeting, from which the public and press are excluded.
It was announced to the cabinet that the council was in a position to submit a planning application for a new primary school, having already carried out a positive, feasibility study.
It was decided that, unlike most cabinet decisions, this one could not be called in for scrutiny a function which gives an independent council committee the power to force the relevant committee to reconsider.
The council wants the school ready by 2014, saying the need for more pupil places in the south of the borough is desperate.
The chosen spot is on the eastern side of Lake Farm Country Park, a green space with wildlife and nature trails close to the corner of Botwell Lane and Botwell Common Road.
The planned school would eat into about five acres of Green Belt.
The project has progressed inexorably since it was first announced almost a year ago, despite huge opposition.
More than 150 people showed up for a stormy community meeting on the issue called by Hayes Labour MP John McDonnell (pictured) last month.
He has criticised what he sees as secrecy surrounding the project, saying: "Councillors sitting in secret to carve up local community assets isn't democracy, it is a dictatorship.
"We have heard nothing from the council. There has been no public consultation and no discussion with local schools or the community on alternative sites for a school to avoid destroying our local Green Belt land."
Hillingdon Council said the matter was discussed in private because disclosure would affect the competitive tendering for the building contract. It added that statutory consultation will take place when a planning application is made.
Protesters will meet by the Skylark Statue on the common at 11am on February 25.
