MORE than £6-million is being spent on a new primary school in Okehampton.

Devon County Council’s ruling cabinet is set to agree the spending when it meets next Wednesday (September 13).

The county council is currently advertising for a sponsor to run the new primary school in Okehampton.

The new school will initially be able to accommodate 210 children, aged two to 11, but will have the capacity to grow to 420 places.

Government rules mean that most new schools have to be academies but Devon County Council is still responsible for providing the land and meeting the building costs. It will then recoup the costs from current and future development.

The school will be built on land to the north of Crediton Road, where nearly 800 homes are planned.

The total cost of the scheme is £6.2-million, of which £1.7-million has already been approved with a further £278,000 secured from developers.

Councillors will be told that this leaves £4.1-million to be forward funded by the county council and recouped from future development.

Devon County Council’s cabinet member for schools, James McInnes, said: ‘A new school is urgently needed for the fast-growing town of Okehampton.

‘We need to get on with this without delay so that the new school can welcome its first children in September 2018.

‘The existing primary school in Okehampton is at capacity and our forecasts show increasing numbers of pupils over the next few years. We need to start this process now so that parents choosing a school for September 2018 know who the new sponsor is and can make an informed choice for their application.’

Under government rules, applications can now be submitted to the Department for Education from organisations which want to run the school under the free school programme.

One such organisation is Okehampton Primary School, in partnership with Okehampton College and the Diocese of Exeter. The partnership is looking to establish a new Church of England primary and nursery school on the site to serve the new housing planned for the east of the town.

Another organisation is Devon Wildlife Trust, which has proposed to open Devon’s first ‘nature school’ on the site in Okehampton.

The deadline for sponsors to submit their bids is September 19.