A PETITION to build a secondary school in a village has gained more than 300 signatures and is being backed by figures in the public eye. Earlier this month, we reported Juliet Pomerance, 39, of Westland Road in Knebworth, is

A PETITION to build a secondary school in a village has gained more than 300 signatures and is being backed by figures in the public eye.

Earlier this month we reported Juliet Pomerance, 39, of Westland Road in Knebworth, is gathering support for a voluntary-aided secondary school to be built on land close to the Lessiter's chocolate factory on London Road, Woolmer Green.

She said the hundreds of children who go to the junior school in the village do not have a suitable secondary school to go to and, as a consequence, families are moving out of the village or are put off living in Knebworth in the first place.

The mother-of-three has a petition in most of the village shops and has set up an online petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/knebworthsecondary/signatures.html

Her campaign is now being backed by Stephen and Paula Pallister, Knebworth residents and actors who have both played principal parts in Blood Brothers in the West End.

Paula, a mother-of-two, said: "We are given little choice as to where our children go to school and it's playing on our minds.

"There seem to be enough children in the area to support a secondary school in the village. We want to keep the community together."

The petition is also being supported by actor Tim Daniel Clark, director of Oi! Films! - a youth theatre school in Stevenage.

He said: "I have heard time and time again the stress and anxiety my students face when trying to get a place at a good secondary school. It seems they get very little priority.

"It would be ideal to build a secondary school in Knebworth and I don't understand why this was not undertaken years ago, as the problem has been around a very long time.

"There are easily enough children and it would have such a positive effect on the sustainability of the village."

Claire Sutton, Knebworth resident and TV presenter for QVC, is also supporting the campaign.

The mother-of-three says she knows a lot of people who are moving out of the village because there is no secondary school.

"There's a mass exodus round about Year 5, beginning of Year 6," she said.

"We would absolutely have to move out of the area if there isn't a secondary school built.

"We are all really talking from the same page."

A county council spokeswoman has previously told the WHT a secondary school in the area would be "unsustainable".