Decision details

During consideration of this item Councillor B Wye declared an interest as he lived in one of the wards which was affected by the proposal.

The committee considered a report on the proposal to progress with the free school presumption process to open a new primary school in Basford East, Shavington, which include the process of attracting potential sponsors to run the new school.

A report had previously been approved by the Children and Families committee in 2022 to progress with the free school presumption process to open a new primary school in Basford East, Shavington. However, in April 2023 the Council were informed that the developer had gone into administration. Consequently, the scheme for the new school was put on hold.

Due to the length of time since the initial consultation and draft school specification documents, officers were advised by the DfE to re start the process.

During consideration of the item, the committee resolved to move into part 2 to consider the confidential appendix to the report. The committee moved back into part 1 for questions and debate.

The committee asked that the following be taken into consideration when designing the building

-       That additional classrooms be constructed onsite following the proposal that the school would have facilities for a 2-Form of Entry

-       Solar panels be added

-       Sprinklers to be included

-       Facilities to accommodate noise reduction be included

-       Breakout/quiet areas

-       Mitigations for the impact on parking for drop off and pick-ups to the school be put in place

Officers agreed to take the requests back to the design team.

RESOLVED: (Unanimously)

That the Children and Families Committee

1. Agree to progress with undertaking the free school presumption process to identify and obtain agreement for a new school sponsor under section 6A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.This will include undertaking a consultation with the local community, local schools, local councillors, town council and local MP. This is not the formal statutory consultation which sponsors are required to undertake.

2. Note that a further report will be provided to committee with the feedback from the consultation process.

3. Grant approval to enter into contract on a direct award basis with the preferred contractor.

4. Approve entering into a pre-construction services agreement and delegate authority to the Executive Director of Children’s Services to award a preconstruction services contract to facilitate the delivery of a new primary school on the Basford East development site together with any other agreements associated with or ancillary to the contract where necessary in consultation with the Executive Director of Resources/S151 Officer, the Governance, Compliance and Monitoring Officer and the Executive Director of Place.

5. Approve the increase in the capital budget required to progress with the new school proposal as set out in the confidential Appendix 1 and request Finance sub-committee to approve the virement of the funds from Basic Need grant to support the scheme.