Agenda item

Seek approval to publish statutory notices proposing the expansion of Bathampton Primary, Castle Primary, Paulton Infant, Paulton Junior, Peasedown St John Primary and Weston All Saints CofE Primary schools to create additional pupil places

Councillor John Bull in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 7 and on the Council's website] appealed to the Cabinet to ensure that every child in Paulton would have a place at the primary school; and that the on-going road safety problems would be addressed by bringing forward anticipated funding to implement a traffic management scheme near the schools.

Councillor Liz Hardman in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 8 and on the Council's website] asked the Cabinet to ensure that effective road safety and traffic management schemes would be in place before any expansion of Paulton school; to ensure that all Paulton children would have a place at a school in Paulton; and that funding for the expansion scheme would be maximised, whatever approach was adopted.

Rachel Rayner (Paulton Resident) in a statement said that there were road safety issues at Paulton school which must be addressed before expansion was considered; that the school facilities would be inadequate to support a 50% increase in children; and that she felt the consultation had been inadequate, particularly since section 9 of the report did not even mention the option of building a new school on another site.

Mich Moore (Paulton Schools Expansion Action Group) in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 9 and on the Council's website] disagreed with the contention made in the report that the existing site of Paulton Schools would lend itself to expansion.  She felt that road safety issues in particular made the plans inadequate for the needs of local children.  She appealed to Cabinet to direct resources towards building a new building on a new site which would provide a sustainable solution for the village.

Louise Bray (Chair, Church Valley Schools Federation) in a statement [a copy of which is attached to the Minutes as Appendix 10 and on the Council's website] asked the Cabinet to give an assurance that the Education and Inspections Act 2006 would be upheld, particularly in the matter of keeping village schools open, by protecting the rural schools in the area.

Councillor Dine Romero thanked the parents and head teacher of Paulton Infants School for meeting with her recently.  She said that the main issues of concern were planning, transport and road safety and observed that the planning application had been withdrawn in order to address these issues.  She assured Councillors Bull and Harman that schooling would be provided in Paulton for all Paulton children whose parents wished that.  There were some reservations about new build, because the existing policy was that new build should be for a minimum of 2-form entry but a new build in Paulton could barely be single-form entry and would cost about £3M.  She assured parents however that the s.106 funds would be fully used to improve the schools in Paulton.

Councillor Romero referred to the complaints about the short consultation period.  She emphasised that the statutory consultation was yet to take place; but that the Cabinet wanted to be able to accommodate the increased numbers of children due to arrive at school in September 2013.  She moved the proposals which she said would start the statutory consultation.

Councillor Paul Crossley seconded the proposal.  He pointed out that the Council had a statutory duty to respond to population trends and had made a point of consulting widely.  The proposals were to move to further consultation on the plans.  He believed that the 6 schools identified for expansion were the right ones.  Parental choice would be widened and small schools would be protected by these proposals.  Expanding these schools would enable them to support enhanced educational facilities such as SENCO support, school clubs, curriculum planning, small specialist classes etc.  He acknowledged the need to address the traffic issues in Paulton when considering the proposal to expand the school.

On a motion from Councillor Dine Romero, seconded by Councillor Paul Crossley, it was

RESOLVED (unanimously)

(1) To PUBLISH a Statutory Notice proposing the expansion of Bathampton Primary school;

(2) To PUBLISH a Statutory Notice proposing the expansion of Castle Primary school;

(3) To PUBLISH a Statutory Notice proposing the expansion of Peasedown St. John Primary school;

(4) To PUBLISH a Statutory Notice proposing the expansion of Weston All Saints C of E Primary school; and

(5) To PUBLISH a Statutory Notice proposing the expansion of Paulton Infant school and Paulton Junior school.