Somerton School update
On arrival for this evening’s (20th June) South Somerset District Council meeting several councillors approached to update The Leveller on the status of Somerton School. We have been told that Somerset County Council have now withdrawn the plans that SSDC planners had objected to.
Residents of Somerton can only hope that this will mean both county and district will now talk to each other and reach agreement before further planning decisions have to be made for the project.
However concerns remain that the chosen site for the school, at the top of Northfields will not be acceptable to SSDC. This is a shame as the site was identified for the school more than a year ago.
If a new site has to be found the project would inevitably be delayed. Potentially this would mean at least an extra year before the school could be opened assuming a new site can be found rapidly.
In the meantime the plans for the school will no longer be presented at the next Area North meeting. We will update you as soon as we learn more.
This site was first identified as a preferred site for a combined primary school for Somerton very many years ago, before the Northfields development by Bovis was even conceived. It was not acceptable to the two, then separate, governing bodies; and was consequently dropped by SCC.