Decision details

Decision:

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills is asked to agree to:

a.    provide £1.9m of additional funding, making a total of £9m (including £4.6m of Developer Contributions) to build a new 2FE Primary School on the Ebbsfleet Green Housing development in Dartford Borough.

b.    Authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services in consultation with the General Counsel and Director of Education to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council.

c.    Authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts. Variations to contract value to be no more than 10% above the capital funding agreed by the Cabinet Member without requiring a new Record of Decision.

Background

The Ebbsfleet Garden City is seeing rapid housing development across several sites, Ebbsfleet Green being one of the larger sites.  The development is well underway.  The Section 106 provides for a new 2FE school to be delivered on the site.

Kent County Council’s Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2019-23 is a five-year rolling plan which is updated annually. It sets out the future plans as Strategic Commissioner of Education Provision across all types and phases of education in Kent.  A copy of the plan can be viewed from this link:

http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/strategies-and-policies/education-skills-and-employment-policies/education-provision

The Children, Young People and Education Committee considered this proposal on the 13 October, 2017, and recommended that funding be agreed.

The Maritime Academy Trust was appointed by the DfE to run the new school, following an open competition that concluded in June 2018.  The 2FE primary provision would also have a 26 place early years provision and a 15 place SRP for pupils whose primary barrier to learning is autism.

The developer, Redrow, KCC and the Ebbsfleet Developer Corporation sit on an Education Review Group (ERG) to discuss and if necessary, vote on issues about the delivery of the school that are not covered by the Section 106 or need clarification.

The reason that there is now a shortfall in funding is that the project was first costed in 2017 and in line with inflation and other issues, the cost has been revised.  There have been several design changes required by the planning authority, Ebbsfleet Development Corporation to achieve planning permission, not least that the building is now a 2FE fitout. 

There was an initial cost of temporary accommodation in mobiles which was aborted because the decision was taken to relocate of the temporary provision to another school for a period of one year to allow the school to start this September.  This resulted in aborted costs for not delivering the mobile units on the Redrow land, aborted cost of temporary design and surveys for the temporary provision.

Options

There are no options.  This school is being proposed to accommodate the demand from the new housing development.

How the proposed decision meets the objectives of ‘Increasing Opportunities, Improving Outcomes: Kent County Council’s Strategic Statement (2015-2020)’

The provision of sufficient school places is a statutory duty and contributes to the Strategic Business Plan Priorities to ensure that “Children and Young People in Kent get the best start in life”.