Britain’s oldest school will bag £1.3 million when it sells off a huge chunk of land earmarked for a sweeping development, KentOnline can reveal.

Latest accounts published by King’s in Canterbury – which was founded in 597AD – show the Sturry plot is expected to increase in value further.

Papers produced by the £41,000-a-year independent say the fields will make way for a 630-home estate that has already been green-lit by the city council, having long been leased to farmers.

The housing scheme – which will swallow up the 75-acre Greenfields Shooting Grounds site as well – will also have part of the £30 million Sturry relief road running through it.

It was previously reported the owners of the two plots had been searching for prospective developers to sell them off to – with the sale price split 46/54 in the school’s favour.

And in accounts for the year ending August 31, 2021, King’s bosses reveal: “[We] have owned the land for some years and leased [it] for farming.

“In September 2021 planning permission was received for a relief road that will allow a sizeable housing development to be built on the land.

“As of August 2021, it was appropriate to continue to hold the land at the carrying value of £1.29 million – but it is expected that this value will increase materially in the coming months.”

The owner of the shooting grounds, Tim Greenfield, says he was first approached by a firm interested in winning planning permission for the estate in 2007.

Shortly afterwards, the 74-year-old struck a deal with the company Environ Design, which is now close to securing a buyer for the plots owned by him and King’s.

When asked if the school was likely to receive the sum quoted in its accounts, he said: “That’s not a figure I’ve heard – from what I understand it’s more than that.

“We’re hoping the sale will be in the summer of this year.”

Mr Greenfield – who put an end to the firing of shotguns at the decades-old business two years ago – previously expected the sites to be sold by the middle of 2022.

He says a national house-builder is close to snapping up the land, following delays caused by concerns surrounding the Stodmarsh water quality issues, which have stalled schemes across Kent.

The environmental problem has halted developments in the county after experts discovered high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous in the water at the nature reserve near Canterbury.

The pollution was caused by wastewater entering Stodmarsh's lakes, which are fed by the River Stour, prompting Natural England to instruct local planning authorities not to grant approval for new housing without mitigating measures.

“We want to make sure what we’re doing here is to everyone’s good – we don’t want to pollute anywhere,” Mr Greenfield continued.

“The promoter has been in touch with the council and Natural England to get the right result so we comply with the new rules on nutrients going into watercourses.

“The buyers are very keen, but they want to be assured about this before they part with any money.

“In the next two or three weeks we should hear back about the final approval.”

Proposals to build the homes – none of which will be affordably priced – on the land were given the go-ahead by the city council in 2021, despite attracting numerous objections from locals.

Its construction forms a vital part of the city’s planned infrastructure improvements, as the relief road set to be laid through it is expected to ease traffic through Sturry’s snarled-up level crossing.

"We’re hoping the sale will be in the summer of this year..."

When questioned about the development, a King’s spokesman said: “We are not able to comment at this stage.”

According to the school, its "origins find their roots in the monastic school founded by St Augustine, subsequent to his mission of 597AD".

It was later re-founded by Henry VIII in 1541.

Christopher Marlowe, Michael Morpurgo and William Harvey are among its most notable former pupils.