Money from the Public Works Loan Board is being made available to Wokingham Borough Council to help deliver the school.

The money will provide infrastructure needed to support developments at the Strategic development location.

Keith Baker, leader of Wokingham Borough Council, said: “The money will be used for the new school. It will allow us to effectively forward-fund the building of that school prior to getting the contribution from the developers.

“It’s subject to both planning applications being approved but we are still on track to deliver the school by 2016.” He said the council’s application for the school could go ahead even if the developer’s application for the homes falls through.

Wokingham Borough Council is in negotiations with the landowners to try to gain access to begin work on the school even if the developer’s application is turned down by the council’s planning board.

Mr Baker said: “The developers have every reason to get their application right. If they don’t begin to get approval by the beginning of April then we bring in CIL.” CIL, the Community infrastructure Levy, is a new method of charging developers to help improve the infrastructure around their proposed buildings.

The loan from Westminster is being given alongside a £10.2M investment in the Thames Valley.

Other schemes that will benefit from the investment include the regeneration of Bracknell town centre, flood defences along the Thames and spreading superfast broadband across Berkshire.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Giving local communities the power and the money to unlock growth and development and make the spending decisions that work for them is a key part of our long-term economic plan to secure a brighter future for Britain and ensure a recovery for all.”