Agenda, decisions and minutes

Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services, and Rural Affairs - Monday, 6th January, 2014 2.00 pm

Venue: Committee Suite 1 & 2, Westfields, Middlewich Road, Sandbach CW11 1HZ. View directions

Contact: Cherry Foreman  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

20.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

21.

Declarations of Interest

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

22.

Public Speaking Time/Open Session

In accordance with Procedure Rules Nos.11 and 35 a period of 10 minutes is allocated for members of the public to address the meeting on any matter relating to the work of the body in question.  Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes but the Chairman or person presiding will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned where there are a number of speakers. Members of the public are not required to give notice to use this facility. However, as a matter of courtesy, a period of 24 hours’ notice is encouraged.

 

Members of the public wishing to ask a question at the meeting should provide at least three clear working days’ notice in writing and should include the question with that notice. This will enable an informed answer to be given.

 

 

Minutes:

No members of the public were present.

23.

Manor Park School and Nursery, Knutsford - Proposed Expansion pdf icon PDF 63 KB

To approve the commencement of statutory consultation on the proposed expansion of the Manor Park School and Nursery from 210 to 315 pupil places, for implementation from September 2015.

 

 

Additional documents:

Decision:

That approval be given to commence statutory consultation on the proposed expansion of Manor Park School and Nursery from 210 to 315 pupil places for implementation from September 2015.

 

Minutes:

 

As the Strategic Commissioner of School Places, the Local Authority has a statutory duty to review provision within its area and to establish future demand.

 

Pupil forecasts indicate a shortfall in the number of primary school places due to changing populations and increasing demand in some areas of the Borough.  Proposals are being made for the Knutsford area of the Borough to expand existing accommodation to meet this increasing demand and to ensure a level of operational surplus which is a level of spare capacity intended to accommodate reasonable journey times to school, some degree of parental choice, and flexibility to allow for mid-year entrants.

 

In making this recommendation, officers have considered a number of issues including the number of pupils in each school’s catchment area, the number of first preferences received for each school, the current size of the school together with the school sites and those suitable for expansion and the likely costs of extension. Suitable schools need to be central to the areas where the extra places are required.

 

As the increase in places amounted to more than 25% it was noted that this would be a significant enlargement and statutory consultation procedures would, therefore, be required; informal consultations had taken place with the headteachers of the primary schools in this area.

 

The advice of the Council’s Legal and Finance Officers has been taken into account in producing the report presented to the Portfolio Holder.

 

 

RESOLVED

 

That approval be given to commence statutory consultation on the proposed expansion of Manor Park School and Nursery from 210 to 315 pupil places for implementation from September 2015.