Council to sell Canal Way site in Ilminster to raise £1m

Herne View Church of England Primary School, located in Ditton Street, was created in September 2022 by the merging of Swanmead Community School and Greenflyde Church of England First School, as part of a wider reorganisation of schooling in the Crewkerne and Ilminster area.

A new primary school was originally intended to be delivered as part of a development of 360 new homes on Canal Way, a short distance from the Herne View site.

Somerset Council confirmed in October 2023 that a new school would not be delivered within this site, with Herne View instead being expanded to accommodate children from the Persimmon Homes development (which secured outline planning permission in January 2024).

The council has now signed off on plans to expand Herne View with a new classroom on its existing playing fields - and intends to sell the Canal Way allocated site off to a developer.

Pupils at Herne View are currently split across two sites in the town, with Key Stage 1 lessons being delivered on the Silver Street site (the former Greenfylde School) and Key Stage 2 lessons taking place on Ditton Street (the former Swanmead School).

Under the plans, the Ditton Street site will be converted into into single-site school with 14 classrooms - providing enough space for 420 pupils, at a cost of around £2m.

The council said it would cost up to £13m to deliver a new school on the Canal Way site instead - which would have be funded by contributions from housing developers and additional council borrowing.

Rose Stokes, a senior officer within the council's education places strategy team, said in her written report: "The delivery of a single site primary school and early years centre in Ilminster will enable the school to remove itself from the Silver Street campus.

"This will reduce the rental burden and additional overheads of the school and will free up the council-owned new school site at Canal Way for potential sale to housing developers."

The council estimates the sale of the Canal Way allocation could generate up to £1m - which can be spent on other capital projects (such as new roads or other new schools), or could be used to fund front-line services if the government agrees to grant a further 'capitalisation directive' (as it has with the previous two council budgets).

In addition to providing all primary provision on one site, the council intends to relocate the Apple Orchard Pre-School onto Ditton Street, converting the former adult education building to provide enough space for 64 infants.

Of the £2m committed to this project, delivering the early years provision is expected to cost £1,105,000 (funded entirely through external borrowing), while the consolidation of the primary provision will cost £911,000 (of which £795,000 will come from borrowing and £116,000 from contributions already secured from housing developers).

A spokesperson confirmed: "We can confirm that the new classrooms will be located on the existing playing field at Ditton Street.

"Even after the new classes have been located on site, the school will still have a surplus of playing space as recommended by the Department for Education (DfE)."

The council estimates that consolidating Herne View's provision would save the school's budget £105,000 a year, including £26,000 a year in rent on the Silver Street site.

It would also save the council from spending up to £523,000 on improving the conditions of the Silver Street buildings, with a number of elements of the structure being rated "poor" or "bad" following recent inspections.

Regarding the future of the Canal Way allocation, the spokesperson said: "The proposal aims to free up the council-owned new school site at Canal Way for potential sale to housing developers.

"Beyond any requirement for other statutory uses, it is not within the gift of the council to determine future use and any proposals would be subject to usual planning processes."

Persimmon Homes South West is expected to submit detailed proposals for the wider Canal Way development in the coming months.