Autistic young people in one part of Somerset will soon have access to a brand new facility following a decision by the county council.

Somerset County Council currently operates a specialist facility for children with autistic spectrum conditions (ASC) on Park Road in Frome, known as the Mendip Area Autism Base.

The council has been seeking a more central base for these services in the Mendip area, arguing the Frome centre can no longer meet pupils' needs  and Glastonbury represents a better, more central location.

Work will soon begin to construct the new facility at St. Dunstan's School on Cox's Close, after plans for the new facility were approved by council officers in late January.

Headteacher, Lynda Bevan, said, "We are very excited about the planned base on our grounds. We are working closely with Somerset Council, the MSNP Trust, as well as staff at the base, to ensure a smooth transition and a high quality provision to allow students with autistic spectrum characteristics to access the support they need."

The new facility will be constructed on a section of the existing playing fields at the entrance to the school, with a new footpath being created from the existing pick-up and drop-off area.

All current pupils, carers and staff will be transferred over to the new site automatically, with consultation expected to take place over the next 18 months to ensure everyone's needs are met.

Lewis Andrews, the council's commissioning and performance officer for specialist sufficiency and alternative provision, said the change would provide high-quality education for pupils while easing pressure on the council's budgets – specifically on school transport and the high needs grant given annually by the Department for Education (DfE).

He said in his written report: "This will meet the strategy of providing good quality local school places appropriate to pupils' needs, in order to alleviate financial pressures on high needs block of the dedicated schools grant and our school transport budget.

"This will ensure that secondary school-aged young people in the Mendip area will be able to be placed in a mainstream school with specialist support to enable them to access mainstream education as much as possible.

"It would not be a good investment of public monies to expand and refurbish the existing base in Frome, due to the condition of the building and limitations of the site.

"Glastonbury is considered a preferred location geographically to serve the area compared to the current location in Frome."

The new ASC facility will be run by the Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership, a multi-academy trust which runs multiple schools in the Midsomer Norton area along with St. Dunstan's School, St. Mark's School in Bath and both Preston School and Buckler's Mead Academy in Yeovil.

The council has not revealed how soon the new facility will open, nor how much it will cost to build, citing commercial sensitivity.

However, it has confirmed the construction of the facility will be funded entirely through external borrowing, rather than central government grants or contributions from local housing developments.