Flood risk may mean uprooting outstanding Devon forest school

An outstanding Devon school for children with complex needs may have to dismantle its much-loved ‘forest’ base because flooding could put students’ lives at risk.

The Heathfield-based Greater Horseshoe School – rated outstanding by Ofsted – has been using land at Chipley Mill for outdoor learning, but it has never had official permission to do so.
Now Teignbridge Council has decided the risk of floods at the low-lying site means it cannot allow the unauthorised use to continue.
The school has been given six months to make a formal planning application which addresses the risk of flooding from the River Lemon. If it doesn’t, the council’s enforcement action to clear the site will kick in.
Bickington’s parish council supports the school, and the school itself says using the Chipley Mill site significantly helps the educational development of the children.
A school statement said: “The children attending the school all have special educational needs and/or disabilities and Chipley Mill provides an off-school learning environment which helps to nurture the students’ development.
“It is considered that closing the site will have a huge detrimental impact on the students’ development, in particular those in their final years of education. It will have a significant impact on the students’ ability to secure the necessary qualifications and have very real life-long implications on their futures.”
Members of the Teignbridge planning committee heard that the site was a ‘high risk’ flood zone which posed a potential risk to life. Councillors were warned by their officers that it would be negligent to allow vulnerable children to continue using a site which could flood quickly.
The authority was first alerted to caravans and a yurt on the site in 2020, and the school applied for planning permission in 2022. This was refused, and the school’s appeal was also dismissed, both times on the grounds of flood risk.
Cllr John Nutley (Lib Dem, Ashburton and Buckfastleigh) said up to 50 young people had been using the site since 2018, and there had never been any flooding. And, he said, the school had signed up to an Environment Agency early warning scheme just in case.
“These young people need this type of education to move forward with their lives,” he said. “The staff will not put their students in danger.”
Cllr Janet Bradford (Ind, College) said she was ‘horrified’ to be considering enforcement.
“I understand the legal position but I cannot believe we would vote to stop these children going onto this land which hasn’t flooded for years.
“The school and Ofsted will have made sure they are safe.”
However, committee chair Suzanne Sanders (Lib Dem, Chudleigh) said: “We are not challenging the fact that it is a fantastic facility, but we are looking at whether this is the right location for it. We have heard that it may not be.”
Councillors voted by four to three to go ahead with the enforcement action with a six-month delay so the school can submit its application.