Villagers determined not to let old school building go to developers

The Potterne campus of Five Lanes Primary School, near Devizes closed in 2019- and they believe the space is too good to waste.

Dubbed ‘The Patch in Potterne Project;’ the aim is to turn the school into a vibrant, fun place to host activities underpinned by the concept of 'Life Long Learning’. 

The commercial development rate to buy the building would have been at least £400,000.

However, as the school is registered as a community asset, the villager behind the project has the opportunity to purchase it for just £120,000.

They have a big task ahead, as they have raised £2,100 of their ambitious target so far on an online fundraising page.

But Robert Berry who is one of the organisers behind the project is determined for it to be a community-led purchase.

Robert Berry outside the former Potterne school building.

He told this newspaper: "We have already been offered some generous donations from Corporate and business sources which we are more than delighted to receive.

"In addition we would also like any members of the community to donate as that will give them a sense that they have contributed to the overall cause."

The organisers also explained that although the village has several amenities, they believe that they all need to be 'stitched' together to create a village events and activities diary, to ensure there are no cross-overs and generate a wide variety of events for everyone in the village and beyond.

Robert added: “We’ve got a massive list of things that we could do.

“We’re doing a survey asking what people would want from it but sometimes people don’t really know what they want because they’ve not had it before.

“It’s one of those shift and make things where we can try things, put them on and see how it goes.

“It just seems bonkers to let a building like this go to a local developer- we don’t want that. We’ve got enough buildings going up in Potterne.”