The Cabinet agreed that previous designs to replace classrooms destroyed by fire failed to meet both the school's educational aspirations and the constraints of the sensitive site and its Grade II listed manor house.

Dorset County Council has set aside £10.9million to create a modern teaching block for maths, science and humanities. However, the Cabinet was concerned that all the designs exceeded this budget by between one and two million pounds.

Before making its decision the county council consulted a panel of independent architects and designers to advise on the proposals. The panel expressed some significant concerns about the way the designs fitted into the site's protected landscape and made some positive suggestions about how a new scheme could improve on the existing proposals.

The Cabinet members were anxious that work on a new design should not significantly delay the new block. They concluded that they expect a successful scheme to be developed over the next few months to go before the planning committee in the spring.

Toni Coombs, Dorset County Council Cabinet member for children's services said:

"We understand that everyone at Lytchett Minster School wants to have the new teaching block in place as soon as possible. The students' welfare is the county council's primary concern. However we have agreed that officers should step back and take a fresh look to find a solution that successfully marries educational requirements and site constraints. It is important for us to keep the cost of the project within the agreed budget so that other Dorset schools can also benefit from new investment in modern school buildings."