New £7.7m Chard primary school and nursery confirmed

The new primary school will be built next to the existing Holyrood Academy

A new primary school and nursery will be built in the grounds of a secondary school, in a growing Somerset town.

Somerset Council has confirmed it is going ahead with a £7.75m project to build a 210-place primary school and 40-place nursery at Holyrood Academy in Chard.

The council said hundreds of new homes being built in the south Somerset town meant an extra 300 primary places would be needed in the next 10 years, more than the town's current three primary schools could accommodate.

It is hoped the new school will open in 2028.

Dave MacCormick, headteacher at Holyrood Academy, said: "I think it's great news for the town. A common criticism of towns expanding is that services don't keep pace.

"I think there's a lot more to it than just the school, GP services, dentistry, other services need to adopt this ahead of the curve approach. But I think it will be a relief for parents that they can get their children to primary school."

Building the new school is expected to cost £7.75m over the next four years, all of which Somerset Council hopes will eventually come from S106 funding.

These are contributions developers have to make towards local services, including education, when they are granted planning permission to build homes.

However the council will have to take out a loan to cover some of the costs until they can be recouped from developers.

The council said 142 new homes have recently been finished in Chard, with another 200 in construction.

A further nearly 1,000 homes are planned over the next 10 years and all of these new homes combined are expected to bring nearly 300 more primary aged children to Chard.