It's taken 30 years of struggle by people in Peacehaven to get their own secondary school. But before it has even opened it's plain the building will not be big enough.

Now East Sussex County Council is bidding for another £4 million to expand the school which is being built under the Government's Private Finance Initiative.

The council made the elementary mistake of assuming many pupils would want to follow their brothers and sisters who currently attend schools in Newhaven, Lewes and Brighton.

But why should they bother to make awkward journeys to those schools when a new one is provided down the road?

It's essential the new school should be big enough to take pupils from Peace-haven, Telscombe Cliffs and East Salt-dean which is the main catchment area.

That's why the council is now applying to expand the school from 750 to 900 pupils but even this may not be enough.

It could find the school is so popular once it has started that even more pupils wish to attend. Perhaps it would be better to expand the capacity to 1,000 so the council does not have to make another expansion bid in a year or two.

People outside Peacehaven have constantly underestimated the clamour for it and the council's mistake is another example of that.