Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 The report concerns the purchase of the small holdings at the rear of Oldfield Park Junior School, Lymore Terrace, Bath to provide on site team games playing field for the school. The small holdings are in private ownership but the site is designated under the Local Plan as land for primary educational use. Direct requests to the landowners for sale of the land to the school have failed and it is proposed the use of compulsory purchase orders be agreed.

2 RECOMMENDATION

The Cabinet agrees that:

2.1 The Council is authorised to make a compulsory purchase order under section 530 Education Act 1996 of the land shown in the attached plan and the Chief Property Officer is authorised to take the necessary steps to secure the making, confirmation and implementation of CPO to acquire the land in question.

2.2 Approve the allocation of £173,000 from the 2008/09 Children's Service capital programme.

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 Total potential costs are estimated to be £263,000. The costs cover the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) process estimated at £100,000 and for clearing and preparing the land for playing field estimated to be £113,000. A contingency amount of £50,000 is also set aside. A commitment has been made against the LA share of the Hayesfield playing field capital receipt which is prioritised for sports facilities at local schools. Whilst the capital receipt is awaited, a call is to be made on the NDS Modernisation funding of £5.7m which is available for allocation for the period 2008 -2011 to meet highest priority issues at Bath & North East Somerset schools. It is proposed to allocate £173,000 from this heading. The balance of £90,000 will be met by Oldfield Park Junior School from its Devolved Capital funding. If the contingency funding is not required it will be retained by the LA and be available for expenditure on other projects.

3.2 Revenue costs for maintenance of the playing field will be met from Schools ISB Budget share premises allocation, calculated in the usual manner.

4 COMMUNITY STRATEGY OUTCOMES

• Building communities where people feel safe and secure
  
• Taking responsibility for our environment and natural resources now and over the long term
  
• Improving local opportunities for learning and gaining skills
  
• Improving our local environment

5 CORPORATE IMPROVEMENT PRIORITIES

• Improving the environment for learning
  
• Cultural Development
  
• Improving customer satisfaction

6 CPA KEY LINES OF ENQUIRY

• Ambition for the community - i.e. What the council, together with its partners, is trying to achieve
  
• Creating and developing a better quality of life for the area through

• Improving engagement with and a range of services for Older People and Children and Young People

7 THE REPORT

7.1 The school has no on site playing field and for several years have used the Lymore playing fields. However, these are far from ideal as they are located approximately half a mile from the school and there is full public access including dog walkers with all the attendant health and safety problems. These factors render use of these fields virtually impracticable for any routine use. The lack of a playing field provision on the school site compounds the problem of an undersized site with very limited hard play and very little available grassed play areas. Effectively much of the PE curriculum has to be delivered inside in the school hall limiting the range of activities possible.

7.2 Every effort has been made by Oldfield Park Junior School governors to seek private purchase from the small holder owners, commencing in early 2005 and being followed up with hand delivered and recorded delivery letters but it has not been possible to agree purchase with the various owners and some have not responded. In October 2007 the school governors successfully applied for planning approval for a change of use of the site together with land clearance and reinstatement as a playing field. The school supported by the Children's Services now wish to progress the acquisition of the smallholdings. In order to acquire the site compulsory purchase under section 530 of the Education Act 1996 would be the only option but must be pursued by the Council on behalf of the school.

8 RISK MANAGEMENT

8.1 The report author and Lead Cabinet member have fully reviewed the risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.

9 RATIONALE

9.1 The lack of on site playing field provision at Oldfield Park Junior School has been identified since 1995 as causing difficulty with curriculum delivery. The site is designated in the Local Plan as land for primary education use. Direct approaches to the small holding owners have failed to gain their agreement to purchase by the council. Planning approval has been gained for the change of use. Both Council and school funding is now available to meet the costs of purchase and providing playing field facilities. The provision of an on site playing field will contribute to the Every Child Matters outcomes of being healthy and staying safe and meets a key Council priority in improving the environment for learning.

10 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

10.1 None.

11 CONSULTATION

11.1 Ward Councillor; Cabinet members; Local Residents; Community Interest Groups; Stakeholders/Partners; Other Public Sector Bodies;

11.2 Oldfield Park Junior governors have consulted with the Allotment Association who is aware of the proposals. The Environmental Health Officer has been consulted on risks of land contamination and a subsequent Stage 1 Environmental Risk Assessment carried out. Highways officers have been consulted but no extra traffic is to be generated by the scheme and maintenance access to the site is available. Local residents have been consulted and considerable support has been given. A petition of local residents in 2004 had 174 signatories in favour of an on site playing field. The local Ward councillors have been briefed on the issues and invited to the school to meet governors.

12 ISSUES TO CONSIDER IN REACHING THE DECISION

12.1 It is important to consider whether the interference with the rights of the owners of the small holdings under Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights is necessary, proportionate and justified in considering whether the Council exercise its compulsory purchase powers to acquire the land. Article 1 of the First Protocol provides;

"Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the pubic interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and the general principles of international law. The preceding provisions shall not, however, anyway impair the right of the state to enforce such laws as it deems necessary to control the use of property in accordance with the general interest...'

Members should refer to Paragraphs 7.1 and 7.2 of this report setting out the reasons why the School are in need of the playing field and the consequences to the School of not having this facility and the efforts that have been made by the Governors of the School to acquire the land by negotiation which have been successful. In addition the land in question is designated in the Local Plan for education purposes.

It is therefore considered by Officers and the Governors of the School that such interference is necessary, proportionate and justified in the wider public interest in the specific circumstances of this case.

13 ADVICE SOUGHT

The Council's Monitoring Officer (Council Solicitor) and Section 151 Officer (Strategic Director - Support Services) have had the opportunity to input to this report and have cleared it for publication.