Dear Community
You may recall the Informal Public Consultation held by governors in May 2024, regarding the relocation of Tipton St John Primary School. Governors were grateful for the responses and listened to people’s concerns. As a result, governors wrote to Devon County Council seeking further clarity on the Council’s commitment to rebuild the school within Tipton St John village. Last week we received a response from DCC stating that their preference continues to be for ‘the school to remain in Tipton if an affordable / deliverable solution can be found in a timely manner’.
During the summer, DCC were in communication with the Department for Education to ascertain the level of diligence required for each site in Tipton before the DfE would consider commencing their feasibility studies. The significant costs to complete this work will be approx £600,000 and DCC has no funding sources to undertake this work. However, East Devon District Council has recently invited bids against their Community Infrastructure Fund and DCC has submitted a bid for £600,000 to undertake the required works on the Tipton sites.
A timeline for a decision from EDDC on whether they will accept this bid has not yet been confirmed, but we hope to have some news after Christmas.
This decision will be critical for Governors in deciding their next steps. If these investigative works cannot be funded by DCC, then the governors will have no choice but to proceed with a formal con-sultation on a site outside of the village.
The governors are committed to keeping the school within Tipton. However this is balanced with prioritising the safety of children and staff and the continual assessment of the ongoing risk of flood and poor condition of the lower site. Governors also need to weigh up the time it could take to secure funding and complete the diligence, with no guarantee at the end that a deliverable site in Tipton will be accepted by the DfE.
The governors will keep parents and the wider community updated on developments.
Kind regards,
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