MORE than £9m will be spent on expanding a Chippenham school and protecting wildlife across Wiltshire.

At a virtual meeting of cabinet on Monday (September 27) it informally agreed that £6.43m will be allocated to Abbeyfield School in order to expand the school to meet increasing demand for school placements.

The reason the decision was given informally was because a cabinet member tested positive for Covid-19, and the body could not meet in person.

Under government legislation, when making decisions, councils must do so in physical meetings.

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The cash will come from the council's accumulated Community Infrastructure Levy funds which are given by developers to the local authority to mitigate the impact of development.

Up to £1.35m will be funnelled into mitigating the impact of “recreational pressures on bat habitats” associated with the Bath and Bradford on Avon Special Area of Conservation and in line with the Trowbridge Bat Mitigation Strategy.

Around £220,000 will go to the mitigation of recreational pressures on the Salisbury Plain and £750,000 of CIL funding to reduce and manage recreational impact from development on the New Forest protected sites.

Cabinet member for housing, Phil Alford – who teaches in the Chippenham area – said: “I think this is fantastic. We are very fortunate, particularly in the Chippenham area, that we have three excellent schools and they are all providing a great service.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for us to expand that and for the families and children.

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“This is a great investment and well welcomed.”

Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Wiltshire, Ian Thorn said that there should be a regular update given by cabinet on how CIL funds were being prioritised and why those areas are being chosen.

Cllr Thorn also asked if there were opportunities to combine Wiltshire Council’s CIL funds with those of towns and parishes.

Leader of the council, Richard Clewer said he would only want to report on CIL funding when “there’s something to say”.

Instead of voting to approve the proposals, each cabinet member was instead asked if they were supportive of Cllr Clewer approving the schemes.

Cabinet members unanimously gave their support to the proposals, however, a formal decision will be made by the leader under his individual cabinet member delegation next week.