A PRIMARY school in Herefordshire is set to borrow £100,000 as it pays for a new boiler.

Herefordshire Council has agreed to lend the school the money, but grants are available to pay for the work.

In a decision document, the council said that Ivington CE Primary School, near Leominster, needs a new boiler.

As fossil fuels are being phased out, the school, which has around 114 pupils, is replacing the old oil-fired boiler with an air source heat pump, which also requires the rest of the heating system to be renewed, it said.

OTHER NEWS:

The school has applied for a grant from Government funding agency Salix and the Diocese of Hereford, but these grants will only be handed out once the work has been paid for.

And Herefordshire Council said because the school, rated good by Ofsted, doesn't hold a large amount of cash, there is a cash flow problem.

This is why the £100,000 loan from the council is needed.

OTHER NEWS:

The decision document, approved by the council's service director for education, skills and learning Ceri Morgan said the sums involved were around £126,000 from Salix and £129,600 from the diocese and £14,400 from the school governors.

A condition of the Salix grant is that the school also undertake various energy-saving measures such as installing LED lights and double glazing, he said.

He added: "Capital loans to local authority schools have been granted for many years secured against agreement by the governors to automatically deduct the repayments from the school’s delegated funding.

"Never has a loan not been repaid as agreed."