A local boarding and day school has submitted a planning application for sixteen luxury homes in Chilcompton, citing a “critical need to raise funds and provide further facilities.”

Downside School and Abbey Trust at Stratton-on-the-Fosse is due to formally separate, meaning that the School will be a self-governing and self-funding charitable trust. In doing so, it will also be taking on the liability and repairs for the Grade 2 listed historic buildings that it occupies.

Faced with a huge repair bill and the need to raise funds as priority, the application consists of sixteen luxury homes at Abbey Road, Chilcompton, on a green field currently used by a tenant farmer, who has been served notice.

The application also includes eight affordable key worker dwellings at Linkmead, Stratton-on-the-Fosse, which would enable staff to provide pastoral out-of-hours care nearby.

In a supporting statement submitted to Mendip District Council, Mr Treloar, Chief Executive at Downside, says: ‘This is a bold initiative in a time of considerable environmental and economic uncertainty.

‘The school will need to make stark choices in how any available funds are prioritised. And, where projects do receive support, there are likely to be very strict affordability criteria.’

The planning supporting statement also identifies a need for major repairs to roofs, windows, wiring, lighting, heating and pipework. The statement identifies ‘a steady decline in student numbers in the last ten years, due mainly to external factors, some of which are outside of the control of Downside Trust.

‘There is a rising expectation of higher quality accommodation and classroom space from prospective parents, and increasing statutory compliance standards, which presents a futher challenge to the trust.’

Those identified include changes to pension contributions for staff, VAT on school fees and the as yet unknown consequences of Brexit for overseas pupils.

Downside School has been on the site at Stratton-on-the-Fosse since 1814 as a Catholic independent boarding and day school for students aged eleven to eighteen. From 2005, it accepted female pupils and employs over two hundred full and part-time workers.

The report states that in 2018/19, it paid over £6.2 million in salaries. The school currently takes 340 pupils, a third of these from overseas, and receives a £7.4 million fee revenue annually. Over 60% of its buildings have heritage listing status.

The statement continues: ‘Despite the financial challenges, the School and Abbey Trust remains committed to maintaining the Downside School estate, and the jobs it provides to the local community.’

It identifies ‘difficult and hard decisions’ about how to raise funds needed.

‘This will inevitably result in the sale of artefacts and other items of significant historical value.

‘It will involve the sale of income-producing land and property assets, and in doing so, it will change the face of the organisation for years to come.

‘These are critical times, and our best laid plans are contingent on sufficient capital raise.’

Chilcompton Parish Council recently voted unanimously to reject the application, which will be decided by Mendip District Council. Full details can be found via the Mendip Planning Application website under reference: 2019/0818/FUL with comments for or against the plans to be received by 21st May.

Residents attending the meeting told the Parish Council that they were concerned about increased vehicular access, a lack of pavements, the loss of a beauty spot used for recreational purposes and the impact on trees and hedgerows. They were also joined by the planning agent for Downside, who answered questions. One of the villagers said: “The land to be developed is Green Belt; it is outside the Village Plan and is contrary to Mendip District Council’s Plans 1 and 2 and the Government’s Planning Policy Framework, which states that development of Green Belt will only be permitted in extreme circumstances.”

Another resident told The Journal: “We feel passionately that as a Mendip village, it should be kept as such. There has been one estate after another built recently in Chilcompton. We have supplied our housing quota.

“It’s the landscape we are concerned about, and preserving our fields and green spaces for future generations. If we don’t stand up for them now, they will be gone forever.”