A SIX-FIGURE contract to build a new depot for Somerset’s school transport vehicles has been handed out.

Somerset County Council granted itself planning permission in February to turn a vacant site near Bridgwater’s recycling centre into a new depot for its school minibuses and coaches.

Now, Somerset Landscapes Ltd, based in Yeovil, has been given the contract to build the new depot - at a cost of £288,275.

The firm is currently being paid just over £214,000 by the council for ongoing landscaping work on the Yeovil western corridor road scheme, with the contract lasting until 2026.

Information about both contracts was published on the tendering website Bid Stats, with the new depot expected to be delivered within four-and-a-half months.

The depot will allow the council to store its coaches and minibuses during the school day when they are not being used for picking up and dropping off pupils.

The vehicles’ current base – the Morgan House and the former libraries complex in Mount Street in Bridgwater town centre – is too small for the current needs of the council.

The new depot – east of the Saltlands recycling centre off the A39 Western Way – was given the green light by the council’s regulation committee in early February.

The Mount Street complex will be converted into a total of 33 new flats and houses after plans by Bridgwater-based developer Axeus Group Ltd were approved by Sedgemoor District Council in late March.

Speaking in early February, county councillor John Parham said that siting the depot near the recycling centre would not lead to a dangerous increase in traffic, due to the school vehicles only being used at certain times of the day.

He said: “If you look at the volume of traffic movements, it’s 40 vehicles in and out twice a day in what is a relatively busy area. I don’t think it’s a material concern.”

The county council is currently exploring the possibility of building a new solar farm near the Saltlands site, setting aside more than £3 million in its capital budget, which was approved in February.

However to date, no plans for a solar farm on any site in the immediate vicinity have been submitted to either the district or council councils.