A £2 million new heating system has been given planning approval for Kingston Maurward College.

It will see fields surrounding the main building dug up for a massive ground source heat pump system over 25 hectares.

The college says that the scheme is part of its long-term proposals to decarbonise the estate and will mean it can remove the existing oil and gas-based heating system from the Grade I listed main building and other sites around the campus.

All of the four fields which are likely to be used will have the system installed using one-metre wide trenches which will be laid with pipework and then returned to agricultural use.

A small section of the area is expected to contain the remains of a Roman road, but archaeologists have decided that provided any finds are recorded it should not hold up the development.

The fields to be used border the main house, visitor centre and the Stinsford Farm complex where a new teaching and business centre is planned.

Once in use the saving in carbon dioxide emissions because of the ground source heating could amount to between 235 and 290 tonnes a year.

Dorset Council, which has approved the permission, has been told that tree root systems will be protected during the excavations and no hedgerows or trees will be affected by the construction works. Public rights of ways will also be protected and although an increase in traffic is anticipated during construction phase there would be no overall increase in vehicles.

Kingston Maurward College say they hope the work will be completed in early 2022.

Said a college spokesman: "'This project will be transformational for the Kingston Maurward Estate, both in terms of reducing our reliance on fossil fuels but also in future-proofing the heating to a large number of buildings, including the nationally important Kingston Maurward House.

"We are one of very few colleges in the country to have been successful in gaining a SALIX grant, and this will support our ambitious decarbonisation targets as an organisation, as well as demonstrating our credentials as a leading college within the environmental studies field."

The ground source heating system will be used for the Grade I listed mansion Kingston Maurward House, the library, all residential buildings and the glasshouses and horticulture centre – all of the which currently run on oil or liquid gas, dramatically reducing the college's carbon footprint.

The SALIX grants are backed by government fundingand are designed to help the public sector improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and lower energy bills.