Issue - meetings

Report CSD21121

On 22^nd September 2022, the Executive approved the recommendations made in a report on the Harris Kent House Free School.

The decision was called in by Councillors Simon Jeal, Angela Wilkins, Josh King, Kathy Bance, Ian Dunn and Vanessa Allen. This Committee was requested to consider what action should be taken in response to the call-in of this decision; the options were to refer the decision back to the Executive for re-consideration, or to take no further action on the call-in, in which case the decision would stand and could be implemented without any further delay. 

Following a request from the Chairman, the Head of Strategic Place Planning outlined the process for the approval and delivery of the free school.

The Harris Federation had made an application for the school through the Department for Education’s sponsor led free school route. The school was approved in 2017 as part of Wave 12 of the programme and was originally intended to meet need in Bromley and Lewisham. The proposals were now focused on addressing Bromley’s requirements. Once a free school application has been approved there was no DfE process to consult on the chosen sponsor.

The Head of Strategic Place Planning explained that once a school had been accepted into the Department of Education’s programme the Council’s input into the process was limited to 3 key areas; consultation on the need for school places; discussion about the provision of possible sites and the determination of any planning application. The DfE were responsible for the development of detailed proposals and for taking schemes through the planning process. The process followed for Kent House was the same as the other 6 sponsor led free schools already delivered in Bromley. In line with the DfE’s process local residents would have two opportunities for consultation: on any planning application brought forward by the Department for Education in relation to the scheme; and on the trust’s consultation to determine whether the DfE should enter into a funding agreement for the school.

The Chairman set out the various Committee processes through which the Harris Kent House site had been considered. This included discussion at a number of meetings of the Local Development Framework Advisory Panel  and the School Places Working Group, a sub-committee of the CEF PDS, in 2019, 2020 and 2021.  The Chairman noted that no Members of the Labour Group had attended the meetings of the School Place Planning Working Group in 2020 and 2021, despite invitations being extended.

The Committee noted that the proposals had received detailed attention and scrutiny.  This stage of the process was not concerned with the detailed design of the proposals as it would be for the DfE to now undertake a full feasibility and submit a planning application in due course. The Council would not enter into any property transaction until after these matters had been completed.

In response to a question from Cllr Jeal concerning the opportunity to consider other sites, the Head of Strategic Place  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36