A TROUBLED Fairford school will permanently close this month, it has been confirmed by Gloucestershire County Council today, though ‘no decision’ has been made yet on the future of the premises.

The death knell was sounded for Coln House in December, after council education chiefs approved a report to close the special school, while investigations continued into safeguarding issues flagged up by Ofsted inspectors.

A six-week public consultation regarding the future of Coln House School had come to an end on December 2, and council officers then officially recommended that it be closed from March 31.

Cllr Paul McLain, GCC cabinet member for children and young people, accepted the recommendations in the report on December 19, with a statutory notice published the following week.

A final decision on the closure of the school, which catered for pupils aged nine to 16 with social, emotional and mental health problems, was then made by the council last month.

Cllr McLain said: “Following consultation into the future of Coln House we took the decision to close the school based on its unsustainable financial situation.

“This decision means that the school will formally close on March 31, 2017.

“There has been no decision made about what will happen to the site as yet, but staff from the county council will be visiting the premises to make sure it is secure.”

At a Fairford town council meeting on February 14, clerk Vanessa Lawrence said during discussions with county council deputy leader Ray Theodoulou, she was told the school “property has not been declared surplus as yet”.

She said if does become surplus then it comes under Cllr Theodoulou’s “umbrella”.

“GCC property department have looked at options,” she continued. “Nothing has been put on the table yet.

“There are a lot of rumours circulating but there’s nothing definite as to what may or may not happen to the building.

"The land associated with Coln House School, according to Ray, will definitely not be used for any kind of building because of the archaeological importance," she said. 

"And Ray would very much like to see that land given over to the town as green space.”

All 35 pupils at the Horcott Road school were abruptly removed by the council on July 1, causing months of speculation as to the future of the school and the site.

The council’s report states the reasons for the closure include a fall in the number of pupils, which causes a drop in government financial support, making it financially unviable.

GCC believes that if the current drop in demand for places continued, there would only be 20 pupils by 2018/19, leaving the school with a £2.5m budget deficit as government funding would be reduced.

A further £2.9m would also be needed to bring the school buildings up to standard.

An independent inquiry into safeguarding and management was conducted between September 19 and 30, with investigations still ongoing.