Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 To inform the Executive on the latest proposed scheme for St John's Catholic Primary School, the Council's financial exposure, and the funding of the scheme. The Diocese of Bath & Wells has now received total grant of £3.8m from the Department for Education & Skills towards the replacement of the school. This funding is available from 1^st April 2006. At their meeting of 29^th June 2005 the Council Executive decided that the current school site at Oldfield Lane known as the St Alphege's Annexe which is owned by the Diocese, together with the Hillside Hall site owned by the Council, should be adopted as the preferred site for the replacement school. This report provides information on the latest scheme proposal for the site.

2 RECOMMENDATION

2.1 Agree that the proposed scheme offers a way forward and has the potential to meet the accommodation and play space needs of the school.

2.2 Confirm that it is willing to increase its cash commitment to £1,239,000 to meet costs associated provision of the site, playing field, highways works and parish hall as per the Council's statutory duty.

2.3 Instruct officers to explore the possibility of selling Hillside Hall and to use the income from that sale to improve the facilities in the new parish hall including changing rooms so as to increase the capacity for greater community use.

2.4 Request Somer Housing Trust to give sympathetic consideration to the use of its land to enable highways alterations to improve traffic management for the school users and the wider community whilst protecting the interests of its residents

2.5 Authorise officers to consult with local residents on the proposals for the new school and associated highways proposals.

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 Under the capital funding arrangements for Voluntary Aided schools, where new or replacement schools are being provided, the majority of costs are met by the DfES through grant aiding the Governors. The Governors themselves must meet 10% of the costs whilst the LA has a statutory duty to provide a site and in addition must meet costs associated with provision and lay out of playing fields and highways works.

3.2 When Members last considered this matter in June 2005 the bid result was awaited. In October 2005 it was announced that the bid had been successful and that £3.8m had been awarded. In line with funding provisions for voluntary aided schools a contribution of £449,000 is required from the Governors and the Council must also meet certain liabilities and these are set out below.

3.3 At the June 2005 meeting Members confirmed their earlier decision that the Council would meet all costs associated with the preparation of a design up to a point at which a planning application is submitted, expected to be no more than £200k. In addition as part of the budget setting in February 2005, the Executive and Council agreed an allocation of £500k from 2008-09 towards the project in recognition of the duty of the Council to provide a site. This was however not based on any assessment of the Council's liabilities at that point. Members also resolved that any request for further funding should come back to the Executive outlining the reasons and implications of the request.

3.4 The latest scheme proposal covered in more detail in Section 4, shows that additional costs over and above the `cash exposure' of £500k already agreed by the Executive would fall on the Council. These include costs of improvements to the local road network, the possible purchase of land from Somer Housing to facilitate this and the relocation of residents parking spaces, replacement of the parish hall which is to be demolished and provision of an artificial turf pitch (ATP) in lieu of a playing field.

3.5 Initial estimates for these elements were prepared by the Diocesan agents. To ensure that costs were robust and to protect the Council's position, Mace consultants were engaged to review these costs. These have now been confirmed as: Highways improvements including an allowance for land acquisition £565,000; Artificial Turf Pitch (ATP) £256,000: Parish Hall £418,000. Total £1,239,000 inclusive of fees, contingency and inflation. This would require an additional allocation of £739,000 from the Council over and above the existing exposure of £500,000. It is proposed that £350,000 of this is met from an underspend in the Council's 2005-06 capital programme. The balance (£389,000) will be met from the Education capital programme. Given the proposed building programme, with the possible exception of the purchase of land from Somer Housing, the Council contribution would not be required until 2008

3.6 The Council would retain liability for the parish hall, ATP and highways works as these elements form part of its duty regarding provision of the site. There is a risk that costs for these elements could increase as the works are taken forward. To mitigate this risk, in addition to the independent assessment of costs undertaken by Mace, it is proposed that highways works will be managed as a Council project independent of the school project to provide greater control and cost certainty.

3.7 It is estimated that a site of equivalent size elsewhere in Bath with a community development value as opposed to residential development value, would be in the region of £2m. The Diocese have indicated that they are willing to gift this site to the Council to facilitate the replacement of the school. Members are asked to note that although under this proposal the main site of the school at Pulteney Road will be vacated this is owned by La Sainte Union and is leased for the provision of Catholic primary education. There is therefore no capital receipt available to contribute to the scheme.

3.8 The relocation of St John's to a single site will generate a small revenue saving each year as the school will no longer receive a `split-site' payment in the formula. Against this must be set any possible increase or decrease in transport costs arising from the relocation. For information, at present the Council pays £33,000 per year approximately in transport costs for St John's.

4 THE REPORT

4.1 As this issue has been considered a number of times by the Executive it is not the intention of this report to provide information on previous options considered and rejected as possible sites for the school.

4.2 The Council has been seeking a new site for St John's Catholic Primary School since 2001.The Department for Education & Skills (DfES) agreed funding of £1.6m for a new school in 2000 but as a result of difficulties in finding an acceptable site it was not possible for the Diocese to access this funding. At their meeting of 29^th June 2005 the Council Executive decided that the current school site at Oldfield Lane known as the St Alphege's Annexe which is owned by the Diocese, together with the Hillside Hall site owned by the Council, should be adopted as the preferred site for the replacement school. This report is intended to provide new information on the issues arising from the Council's decision to adopt the St Alphege's site as the preferred site. The availability of increased funding from 1^st April 2006 does, however, add urgency to this issue.

4.3 It should be noted that in resolving that St Alphege's be the preferred site in June 2005 Members also stated that this should be a 280 place school. However, as a voluntary aided school the capacity of the school is a matter for the Governors and not the LA and the Governors remain committed to providing a 315 places school as originally proposed and the both the bid and the current proposal are on this basis.

4.4 Members may recall that the favoured option of the Governors was to use the St Alphege's site together with the Wansdyke Business Centre (WBC) site and have previously expressed their strong opposition to simply being offered the St Alphege's site alone as it is significantly below the DfES recommended area. The use of the WBC has been ruled out by Members for financial and economic development reasons.

4.5 Following Members' decision in June 2005, Llewellyn Harker Architects (LHA) subsequently undertook work on options for the St Alphege's site together with the Hillside Hall site. This quickly identified that the Hillside Hall site offered limited scope for development in that any school accommodation on this site would perpetuate the current split site situation which this project is trying to address.

4.6 Despite the Governors continuing concerns that the St Alphege's site is considerably below the DfES area guidelines for a 315 place school and would not permit future extension, the success of the TCF bid refocused efforts on trying to find an acceptable design for the site.

4.7 Following consideration of a number of options including two storey, three storey and a combination of single and two storey, the Governors expressed a willingness to explore an option which would see a single storey school building which is preferable for primary aged children, located on the former allotments site with an all weather pitch on the present infant school site. This would maximise the space available for accommodation and recreational areas on the constricted site. Whilst any proposed scheme would be subject to the formal planning process LHA have had initial discussions with planners on all the options considered and the single storey option was most favourably received.

4.8 One of the impacts of this option is that it would require the demolition of the existing parish hall to enable a suitably sized all weather pitch to be provided. The Governors have stated that it is essential to replace this building which was built with parish funds and is used for Church and community activities which cannot be accommodated in the school hall. A parish hall considerably smaller than the existing building has therefore been included in the scheme which would comprise a large meeting space, parish room and kitchen.

4.9 The Governors are keen to ensure that's the new school is seen as a facility for the whole community and have suggested that the replacement of the parish hall provides the opportunity to provide changing rooms linked to that building which could used by other schools in the area and the wider community who would have access to the all weather pitch outside school hours. The Extended Schools Officer confirms that Bath East is a priority for development of extended services and that the school is making good progress to delivering the core offer of extended services in line with the Government's target for schools e.g. wraparound child care, a varied menu of activities, parenting support and community access. The cost of providing changing rooms as part of the rebuild of the parish hall would be £202,000 and would add to the Council's costs set out in paragraph 3.5. If Members are not minded to fund this additional amount then the parish hall can be designed to enable these to be added at some stage in the future.

4.10 As the new school will house pupils currently based at the St John's Pulteney Rd site discussions have also been held with Highways & Transportation to assess the potential traffic implications of the additional pupil numbers using the Oldfield Lane site. They have indicated that in addition to general traffic issues in the area such as the use of local streets as rat runs, there is currently congestion at the start and end of the school day. Improvements to the highways infrastructure are therefore essential and these would include a realignment of the highway to include a mini roundabout with sufficient space for coach turning movements, drop off and pick points for pupils, and improvements to footways. Highways have also indicated that road improvements to facilitate school traffic could have wider benefits for the area and that there could be added value in considering additional changes such as one way systems in surrounding streets and improvements to residents parking. Any such measures would of course be subject to public consultation and the issuing of statutory change orders where appropriate. In addition to any highways improvements it will be essential for the school to have a robust travel plan to mitigate traffic generation and the Highways Road Safety Co-ordinator will advise the school on this.

4.11 The availability of the Somer Housing Trust land at the top of Oldfield Park close to the entrance of the Durley Park estate also owned by Somer is currently being discussed with the Trust. It is hoped that it will be possible to purchase this land as the highways alterations have the capacity not only to meet the school's needs but also improve pedestrian and road safety generally and improve parking for residents. The views of residents will obviously be key and it will be essential to ensure that any highways changes protect access to Durley Park and residents parking. There has been initial informal consultation with residents but further consultation will be required. An allowance for the purchase of Somer land has been included in the sums set out for highways works in the Financial Implications section.

4.12 As previously indicated the construction costs of the school fall on the Governors with grant aid from the DfES with the Governors meeting 10% of costs. The Council has a statutory duty to provide a site and in addition must meet costs associated with provision and lay out of playing fields and highways works. Under its duty to provide a site the present proposal would also require the Council to acquire land from Somer Housing and to rebuild the parish hall.

4.13 The availability of DfES funding has provided the impetus for the Governors to consider afresh the option of the St Alphege's site and although retaining some reservations about the undersized nature of the site which would prevent further extension of the school, they feel that the present scheme proposal has the potential to meet their essential accommodation and play space requirements. They now require a clear proposal from the Council regarding its commitments so that these can be discussed with the parish and Diocese with a view to the submission of a planning application.

5 RISK MANAGEMENT

6 RATIONALE

6.1 DfES approval to the overall scheme will be is required in order to release any funding that has been awarded under the Targeted Capital Fund. In light of the failure to achieve a site following the original funding approval in 2000 the DfES will not unreasonably expect to see progress on this issue and have recently asked for a progress report.

6.2 The Council Executive had adopted the St Alphege's site as the preferred site for St John's Catholic Primary School. This proposal seeks to provide a level of accommodation and play space on this site which meet the essential requirements of the school.

6.3 A large number of potential sites have been considered in the last 5 years, several in considerable detail. For various reasons none have proved acceptable and there have been strong objections from local communities to some proposals. There is no evidence that any of the alternative sites would be acceptable if they were to be reconsidered. Previous consultation has shown that a large numbers of St John's parents favour this site.

6.4 The proposal will require a significant financial commitment from the Council but this should be seen in the context of the Council's duty to provide a site. Overall scheme costs are £5m approximately, the majority of which will be met from Government grant and governors funds. The outcome will be the provision of high quality facilities for children in Bath & North East Somerset with potential for wider community. This will be a major improvement in the environment for learning, which is a key Council priority.

6.5 The present proposal appears to offer a solution to this protracted issue and Members are asked to determine whether they wish to support the proposal and agree the level of their financial commitment.

7 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

7.1 No alternatives to the St Alphege's site have been considered. Various design options have been considered for this site as set out in the report.

8 CONSULTATION

8.1 There has been extensive consultation on the issue of the site for the school in the past. No public consultation has been undertaken on the proposal set out in the report but there has been considerable informal consultation with the Diocese and governors and also with Somer Housing Trust and residents of Durley Park about parking provision.

Currently used:

If the School is transferred to a single site this hall will no longer be available to either School or community (it is assumed that the owners of this site (a third party) will sell it for re-development).

This hall was built and is owned by the parish of Our Lady and St. Alphege and serves as a school, parish hall and community hall.

Use of this hall is currently as follows:

1. Parish and community use of the hall and all weather sports pitches are available even during the school day.

2. Other schools will be able to use the all weather sports pitches and changing facilities during the school day.

3. The Parish will have a smaller more manageable facility for ordinary weekly Parish use, which it is understood they are prepared to accept provided:

4. The school hall can be made available out of school hours for the Parish and community for larger functions that need more space than the new Parish hall.

5. Provision of out of school hours care and activities can be expanded in line with current policy, without conflicting with either existing extra-curricular school activities or parish and community use.