7th October 2022:
On Wednesday 5th October 2022, South Somerset District Council granted full planning permission for the redevelopment of the former Park School (Senior) in Yeovil, Somerset.
The project involves the conversion of existing buildings to 7 No. dwellings, conversion and works to the Grade II Listed Kingston House to 8 No. dwellings, demolition of existing school buildings and erection of 30 No. new dwellings.
Blue Spruce Properties Ltd secured the site on behalf of a Registered Provider and a full planning permission was validated in May 2020. The application had been held up in the planning process due to the current issue surrounding nutrient neutrality and the impact of phosphates on the Somerset Levels and Moors Ramsar.
In order to satisfy the requirements of both the Local Planning Authority and Natural England, phosphate neutrality was achieved by retrofitting water-saving devices to existing housing stock. As far as we understand, this is the first instance of this particular mitigation strategy being accepted in South Somerset.