Decision details

Decision –

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills is asked to:

a)    Allocate an additional £1.3 million from the Children, Young People & Education Basic Need Capital Budget to fund any necessary additional works or variations to accommodation.

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:

Kent County Council (KCC), with the support of the Governing Body, proposed to expand and relocate St Peter's Church of England Primary School to help provide improved Primary education facilities and more school places for local children.  The project will permanently expand the school from 140 places to 210 places, increasing the published admission number (PAN) from 20 to 30 (1FE) Year R places from September 2019. 

The expansion will serve to meet the additional demand for Primary school places arising from new housing at Hawkenbury. The relocation of the school to new, purpose-built accommodation will significantly improve and increase the facilities available for its pupils.

A 4-week public education consultation was undertaken from 20 February 2018 to 20 March 2018, prior to the decision being made. In May 2018 the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education agreed to the capital funding allocation of £6.9 million from the Basic Need Capital Programme Budget for the scheme. 

A further £1m was allocated from the Children’s, Young People and Education Capital Budget in June 2019.  The need for additional funds prior to the commencement of construction were the result of abnormal topography on the site that necessitated additional ground works, building redesign and changes to the car park and site entrance.  There was also an unforeseen need for alternative piling and foundation solutions to mitigate any exposure from ground contamination.

The proposal is to allocate a further £1.3 million from the Young People and Education Basic Need Capital Budget. The reasons for the increased expenditure are as follows:

Since the commencement of work on site there have been further unforeseen and significant abnormal issues relating to the condition of the land on transfer to KCC.  This has resulted in the need for the redesign of some elements of the school, such as the level of the playing field, the redesign process created delay to the programme. Additionally, costs and delays to the programme have been incurred due to the need for unanticipated remedial works to take place to enable construction to be completed.

This work will entail an outlay of capital expenditure from KCC to progress the scheme in a timely manner. Actions have been taken to minimise the quantum of additional costs as far as possible through working with the main contractor to identify design solutions.

Original decisions:

https://democracy.kent.gov.uk/mgDecisionDetails.aspx?IId=48461&Opt=1

https://democracy.kent.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=2265

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

As the strategic commissioner of school provision, the Local Authority (LA) has a duty to ensure that there are sufficient school places for the residents of Kent as set out in Kent’s Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent (2018-22 iteration for this expansion).