More than £9million has been spent with local businesses during the construction of a new faith school in Denbighshire.

Christ the Word Catholic School opened in September and more than 70 per cent of spend with contractors was with businesses within 30 miles of the site.

The school, which caters for 420 full time pupils aged 3-11 and 500 pupils aged 11-16, was funded in partnership by Denbighshire County Council and the Welsh Government through its 21st Century Schools Programme.

The main contractor was Kier Group and the school is part of the Diocese of Wrexham.

Cllr Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets, said:

“As well as providing a fantastic learning environment for our young people, this project has also contributed to the county’s economy.

“Supporting businesses is vital to help create jobs and ensure resilient communities throughout Denbighshire, while local businesses have ensured that the quality of work carried out at the school has been first rate.”

The figures to date for the project show 73 per cent of spend for sub-contractors by Kier has been with local contractors.

This includes companies involved with groundworks, scaffolding, joinery, flooring and fencing.

Peter Commins, managing director at Kier Regional Building North West, said:

“At Kier, we strive to give back to the communities we work in and working with the local supply chain is a key element of this. Over 80 per cent of our supply chain are regional SMEs and we benefit from their combined excellent knowledge of a locality, with specialist skills and a willingness to go that extra mile for our clients.”