The committee acknowledged the difficulties of meeting the school's educational aspirations and the constraints of the sensitive site and its Grade II listed manor house.

Audit and Scrutiny Committee Chairman, Trevor Jones, said:

"The county council has been working with the school on designs for a modern teaching block for maths, science and humanities for several years but things seem to have reached an impasse since the Creative Arts Block was completed three years ago. Committee members felt they needed to come out to the school to get a real feel for the people and the site and to understand why there is still no teaching block in place. After hearing from the Headteacher, Chair of Governors and education and planning officers its is clear that everyone does want to move things on as soon as possible. No-one thinks that the current situation is acceptable. The project needs to be driven forward with clarity and determination.

"We will be meeting again later this month to report on how we can all improve the situation and find an acceptable, clear and prompt way forward. We will also be drawing out the lessons we feel can be learned from this project for future work. Dorset County Council's prime concern is the welfare of pupils at Lytchett Minster School and we owe it to them to press on without further delay."

The next meeting of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee will be on 23 November at 10:00 in County Hall, Dorchester.