Agenda item

Cabinet upheld the decision of the Lead Member made on 15^th May 2014 in respect of the expansion of Parsonage Farm Primary School.

NOTE: This decision by Cabinet is NOT subject to call-in as that process has already taken place.

Councillor Meg Davis, Cabinet Member for Children & Learning, introduced the report

Cabinet was reminded that it had decided on 20^th November 2013 to initiate statutory processes to permanently expand the capacity of a number of primary schools from September 2014.  Following the completion of the appropriate statutory processes, an Executive Decision was made by the Lead Member for Children and Learning and the Lead Member for Value on 15 May 2014.  This had recommended proceeding with the proposed school expansions.  This was then “called in” under a requisition signed by two Members representing more than one Group on 21^st May 2014.

The requisition had been considered at a special meeting of the Children and Learning Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 24^th June 2014.  At this meeting the requisition was partially upheld for the Parsonage Farm, Scotts Primary and The RJ Mitchell schools.  The expansions of the remaining schools were approved.  Those schools included Broadford Primary, Benhurst Primary, Newtons Primary, The Mawney, Suttons Primary and Hacton Primary schools.

The decision of the special meeting of the Children and Learning Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 24^th June 2014 was considered at a Cabinet meeting on 30^th July 2014.  At this meeting Cabinet had taken the decision to approve the expansion proposals for the RJ Mitchell and Scotts primary schools.  It had also decided to defer the decision as to whether to agree proposals to expand Parsonage Farm.  This was in order that further work could be undertaken by officers to more fully explore expansion issues in the Rainham area.

Following the Cabinet meeting, officers across the Council had considered a range of issues related to the expansion of Parsonage Farm Primary School and had concluded that whilst it was appreciated that a number of parents with children at the school and residents close to the school had registered serious concerns, the proposals had taken those concerns into account and they would be incorporated into the final development plans.

In addition, the development of Parsonage Farm School was simply the first in a series of expansion measures which had been shown to be necessary over the coming years.  Whilst it was accepted that no-one necessarily welcomed such invasive change, change was being forced on the borough and Parsonage Farm had completed the necessary Statutory Process – which some of the alternatives suggested had not – and a start had to be made somewhere.  Further delay was not an option as places were needed to be available in September 2015 and moving to a different school would most certainly delay this for a further year precipitating a crisis for places in the Rainham area in September 2015.

Reasons for the decision

1.            This decision was necessary to ensure the provision of sufficient primary school places to meet the forecasted rise in primary pupil numbers.  A summary of representations and petitions received, and officers’ comments on them, was included in Appendices 3a and 3b to the report.  It was considered that those issues could only be addressed by the implementation of plans that had been made, especially in relation to the impact of the expansion on the local environment. 

2.            Whilst the Council appreciated the potential difficulties that might arise, it considered that those were overridden by the Council’s statutory duties to provide sufficient places for the forecasted long-term increase in primary pupil numbers.  If expansion plans were not progressed, then the probability was that there would be school-age children within Havering without a secure a place in a local school.

3.            The Service had looked at the possibility of expanding other local schools in the Rainham area - and indeed might need to explore these options further in the future as demographic pressures continued to increase.  The initial investigations of the available opportunities however, had resulted in a proposal that the expansion of Parsonage Farm was the most appropriate option at this time.  The reasons for this were the school’s clean and simple single storey design, which would allow the Service to achieve a modern, high quality and cost-effective building solution which would not be easily achieved elsewhere; the size of the site which would permit the new build to occur without inappropriate loss of playing-field space and the delivery of the build project in time for September 2015 when the additional places would be needed. 

Other options considered

4.            A number of options had been considered for each planning area against a clear set of criteria which included looking at site capacity, value for money and whether each school was educationally secure and resilient enough to have the capacity to manage an increase in size without adversely impacting on standards.  Not providing any additional places was not an option as the Council would be failing to meet its statutory obligations. 

Cabinet:

Upheld the decision of the Lead Member made on 15^th May 2014 in respect of Parsonage Farm Primary School.