More than £70m of Government will be injected into education in Surrey to help pay for 16,000 more school places across the county.

Michael Gove, Education Secretary, announced last month that £2.35bn would be used to create more school places up until 2017 in addition to £5bn which will be spent on places by next year.

Surrey County Council will receive £72m from the Government - one of the biggest shares of funding.

Linda Kemeny, Surrey County Council’s cabinet member for schools and learning, said: “We’re pleased that the government has listened to us.

“The fact that we’ve been given one of the biggest shares of funding in the country and significantly more than in previous years is recognition of the huge demand we are facing at our high-quality schools following a 20 per cent rise in the birth rate, a surge in numbers that is continuing.

“That is why we have embarked on Surrey’s biggest ever expansion programme that will see us invest more than £350m in creating the 16,000 places we need to ensure every child gets the best possible education.”

The county council, which previously received about £13m annually, will receive nearly £12m in 2014/15, about £29.5m in 2015/16 and about £30.9m in 2016/17.