Academy opens up two car parks at weekends and school holidays.

Honiton Community College has opened up its car parks to the public in a bid to raise funds to enhance the education of its students.

Members of the public are now able to park in the two car parks located at the upper end of School Lane, which will be made available on the weekends, from 6pm on Fridays to 6am on Mondays.

They will also be available for use during the school holidays and half term.

Honiton Community College’s director of finance, Gary Wills, said: “Schools suffer the same as any public organisation with restrictive budgets. Now that Honiton Community College is an academy, we have a bit more freedom to find alternative income streams in order to maximise the money we can spend on the students’ education.”

The fees will be the same as those charged at East Devon District Council-owned car parks and enforcement will be undertaken by Premier Parking Solutions (PPS), based in Newton Abbot.

The money will be shared between PPS and the college, which will be used to supplement the normal school budget.

The car parks became available for use to members of the public at the end of last month.

The college already rents out its facilities to the local community, including its classrooms, halls and sports pitches, and hopes this will be a fantastic new resource for the people of Honiton to use.