A new primary school will be built at Ladden Garden Village in Yate, and the primary school at Charfield will benefit from a significant expansion, through South Gloucestershire Council’s capital investment programme.
These new investments in education infrastructure are required for families moving into the communities to the new homes being built in the area.
In the case of Ladden Garden Village, the council is delivering on a promise made to local people when the construction of the new estate was first proposed. In Charfield, the expansion of the existing school is to meet increased need for school places arising from the new homes planned in the area.
A £12.6 million extension to the existing Charfield Primary school, operated by CSET (Castle School Education Trust), will provide an additional 217 places for primary-aged children. Building work is expected to begin in Summer 2027 and be complete, with the extra capacity available for pupils joining the school from September 2029.
The expansion of Charfield, coupled with the expansion of Manorbrook Primary in Thornbury, which was approved by the council in April, will mean children can access school places in their local area.
In Ladden Garden Village, a brand-new primary school will be built that can accommodate a single form entry, but designed to enable expansion to two forms of entry if more places are required in the future.
Over the next year, design and planning work will continue to progress the project for a new school at Ladden Garden, including securing the land identified for the buildings, obtaining planning consents, and for the Department for Education (DfE) to identify the Academy Trust to run the school.
An update on progress will be brought to Cabinet in the next year, seeking approval for building work to commence on site in February 2027, to deliver the new school to open in September 2028. In planning and development terms, this is a relatively short timeframe, so an alternate timetable, which would see the new school open in September 2029 has also been produced. This would avoid any need for children to be taught in temporary classrooms, for example, if there are delays to the initial plans before construction begins.
Cabinet will make a final decision on the construction and delivery timetable for the new Ladden Garden Village primary school later this year.
All new buildings will be designed to be net zero in terms of carbon emissions, making them more efficient to run, in line with the council’s commitment to using its powers in planning and to invest to make a positive impact on our local environment.
Funding for the projects will come from S.106 contributions, which housing developers are required to make to support local communities where they build to make improvements to infrastructure in the area they build new homes. Additional funding will come from the Government, through the Basic Need Grant from the DfE, and from the council budget.
South Gloucestershire Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for Schools, Councillor Ian Boulton, said: “We are committed to making sure that the next generation gets the best start in life and that every child is able to thrive. That starts with families and with schools in the heart of our communities.
“We are going to make sure these schools get built so that our young people can go to school close to home. Families in Charfield and Ladden Garden Village want the best for their children and so we want to make sure they can easily and safely get to new, state-of-the-art schools in their communities, which is what these plans will deliver.
“The community in Charfield can look forward to their primary school being expanded and open for new pupils from September 2029. We look forward to confirming an opening date for the brand new school for Ladden Garden Village in due course.”
South Gloucestershire Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for Planning, Councillor Chris Willmore, added: “We want to build better places using the council’s powers in planning, transport and housing. When people are told that new homes will bring new infrastructure, as well as the benefits of reinvigorating and boosting their communities, then those promises need to be fulfilled.
“We have already been able to unlock investments in communities that were pledged, but not delivered, with the progress on track to open the new Lyde Green schools, for example. Building the new school for Ladden Garden Village is another example of how we are having to work to get infrastructure that was promised earlier delivered.
“By getting cracking on the extension of Charfield Primary, we are demonstrating that our approach going forward will be to make sure that community improvements come alongside new homes. That is the approach we will be taking forward for the length of our new Local Plan, once that is approved next year.”
