Petition backs call to keep school in village

Tipton St John Primary School has been affected by repeated flooding

A petition to keep a primary school in a Devon village has reached nearly 1,000 signatures, campaigners have said.

Tipton St John Primary School is in a flood-risk area and has been under water on several occasions.

Judith Taylor, a representative of the campaigners, said she presented the petition to Devon County Council's full meeting asking members to "keep the school in the community".

The Department for Education (DfE) had agreed to fund a new building at Ottery St Mary, two miles away, with the county council providing the land and paying for work such as road access.

'Clouded assessment'

Ms Taylor said campaigners believed sites in Tipton had not been "reviewed fairly or without bias" to date, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

She said: “Historically, there have been ongoing discussions of moving the school to nearby Ottery St Mary and we feel this has clouded the assessment of potential sites in Tipton.”

Ms Taylor said there was "strong support to retain the school" which had existed for more than180 years.

She added: “It is a popular school and local parents choose to send their children there due to it being a small rural school."

'Big question'

Tipton St John is in the Honiton and Sidmouth constituency which is represented by Liberal Democrat MP Richard Foord.

Mr Foord said the school "should be kept in the village if at all possible".

"It is a school that absolutely does need to be rebuilt but there is a very big question over where," he said.

The DfE said it remained "committed to improving the condition of the school estate".

A spokesman said: "We continue to work with the school and local partners and look forward to progressing the project when a new suitable site has been secured."