Activists have branded the announcement that Kent County Council is hoping to bring a satellite grammar school to the coast as “sickening” and “immoral”.

The authority’s cabinet member for education, Cllr Roger Gough, has revealed that an annex of an existing grammar opening in Herne Bay or Whitstable would provide 150 places in each year group.

He said it would likely be built in one of the coastal towns to cope with an expected increase in demand for places sparked by proposed housing developments across the district.

However, Labour campaigner Anne Belworthy argues the county council should instead allocate the funds to nearby comprehensives.

“It was sickening to read Kent County Council is a step nearer to opening a coastal grammar school,” she said.

“Instead of investing money into the schools the vast majority of our children attend, the backwards Kent County Council has decided to adopt its old fashioned, elitist ‘preferred option’ of opening a satellite grammar in either Whitstable or Herne Bay.

“The outdated idea of Conservatives that grammar schools provide the chance of a better education for working class pupils has been proved to be false through research, time and time again.”

Ms Belworthy points to figures last year that showed 2.6% of pupils on free school meals attended grammars, as opposed to 14.1% across selectives and comprehensives.

Current government legislation prevents the opening of new grammar schools, but not the provision of satellite sites.

Joanne Bartley, the chairman of the Kent Education Network, says KCC’s preference to build an annex on the coast is an attempt “to dodge a very clear law”.

“It’s not a normal extension,” she added. “Would you call a new grammar school taking in 1,000 pupils in Herne Bay part of the same school as one in Canterbury?

“It’s getting around the law through a backdoor route.”

Cllr Gough added the alternative to building a satellite on the coast would be to expand one of the Simon Langton schools or Barton Court in Canterbury or Queen Elizabeth’s in Faversham.

KCC declined to respond to the criticism.