PEOPLE in Wiveliscombe are poised to once again enjoy community use of buildings and fields at Kingsmead Academy in a few months, after the school was off limits for a number of years due to building work, legal tangles, and Covid before that, writes Sue Mitchinson.

Now the Cabot Learning Federation, which Kingsmead Academy is part of, plans to appoint someone to a new post which will enable community hirers to again use the school’s various facilities.

Its activity and drama studios, its classrooms, hall and sports hall, dining area, grass fields and multi-use games areas, will all be available for hire seven days a week, from 5 pm after school until 9 pm or 10 pm, and from 9 am to 6 pm on weekends.

The new post for a Casual Leisure Assistant is expected to begin in August, with responsibility for hirers’ safety and setting up and dismantling equipment, and it is hoped the school facilities will be available for hire from September.

John Eddy, principal of Kingsmead Academy, said the main building had been demolished and rebuilt, and although community groups had been asking about using the facilities again, and the school wanted this, it was not able to do so until everything was officially signed off.

“We are really pleased. Being part of the community is one of the things we try to do. We are based in the town, and we are grateful for the support of parents, stakeholders and businesses,” he said.

“It’s nice to know that people can now reach out and use facilities that are close to home, without having to go elsewhere.”

He said ever since he took up his post in January 2023 community groups had been asking, but the school had had to follow a process which took time and was outside its control.

Dave Mansell, Somerset Councillor for Upper Tone, which includes Wiveliscombe, and who has been involved in trying to iron out a logjam that was holding things up, said: “It has taken rather a frustratingly long time but now we are very close to restarting again.

“Kingsmead has been very good allowing community use of its facilities for a long time, and it’s good that community sports clubs can get back again.”

He said it had been “a loss” for the groups that couldn’t use the school, ranging from football to badminton, and people were at a loss to know what was happening, once the buildings were completed but there was no indication when community use could start up again.

He said at the start of 2024 it eventually emerged there was disagreement over the use of legal wording. Cllr Mansell said he was involved in helping Somerset Council sort out the problem with Sport England, and this was resolved at the end of 2025. The new post was then advertised in April.

“It’s all good news and it looks like we are now close. I hopefully will remember how to play badminton.”