Agenda item

CSD18150

The Committee considered a report dealing with the Committee’s business management.

Matters Arising

In response to a question concerning whether a further meeting had been arranged with the Diocese to discuss a Catholic Secondary School in the Borough, the Deputy Chief Executive agreed to investigate further and report back to Members following the meeting.

In response to a question concerning any impact of the Restructure of the Youth Courts the Deputy Chief Executive reported that conversations with the Police had indicated that there appeared to be no immediate impact however, the situation would be kept under review.

The Deputy Chief Executive also confirmed that in respect of Streetwise, a couple of conversations had taken place with Lewisham.  The contractual agreement was between Streetwise and Lewisham and as a result of this LB Bromley had limited ability to intervene.  However, a further follow up meeting had been arranged between LB Bromley and LB Lewisham and the plans regarding Streetwise had been put on hold until this meeting had taken place.

The Chairman noted that no Bromley children had been forced to attend Croydon schools.  The Committee noted that Bromley parents had the choice to send their children to Croydon schools and the Chairman requested that following the meeting information on the number of children who chose to attend Croydon schools be provided to the Committee.

The Chief Executive attended the meeting to provide Members with an update concerning the Aeronautical College at Biggin Hill.  In the interests of transparency the Chairman confirmed that he was no longer a Governor at London South East Colleges.  In order to support the update the Chief Executive circulated the letter that had been sent to the Principal of London South East College along with two maps of Biggin Hill airport; one of which highlighted 3 specific sites and a ‘Strategic Plan’ detailing proposals at the Airport.

The Chief Executive provided some context around the history of the issues with the Aeronautical College, explaining that in July 2014 the London Mayor has issued Supplementary Planning Guidance.  This had encouraged some land at Biggin Hill to be used as an education facility with specific reference to aeronautical and high tech.  Subsequent to this, there had been a report to the Council’s Executive identifying up to £3.5m funding for the Biggin Hill area from Outer London Business Funding that the Local Authority had received.

Referring to the ‘Strategic Plan’ map, the Chief Executive reported that at the time this had been developed discussions about the Master Plan were ongoing and initial discussions took place about an aviation academy at the ‘West Camp Site’ owned by Bernie Ecclestone.  In the early days it was envisioned that the funding identified would be used to bring that site into use.  The intention was for the Council to achieve an asset in return for the investment.  However, the plans started to fall through and the Chief Executive explained that the letter he subsequently sent to the Principal of London South East Colleges on 6^th June 2017 was about the funding set aside for skills.

At the same time, in June/July 2017, the Airport indicated that it was seeking to locate the Aeronautical College at site (2) (in proximity to Milking Lane Farm).  The Local Authority Planning Department had a number of concerns over this site and as a result of this the Airport offered site (3) to the College.  As part of this offer the Airport expected the College to secure a contribution of £1.2m from the Council for road infrastructure and access to the west of the Airport where the site was located.  London South East Colleges made a submission to the GLA based on this offer.  When Council Officers further investigated the contribution that had been requested it was unclear how the figure of £1.2m had been reached as the Council’s estimate of the cost was significantly lower.  The Chief Executive highlighted that it was worth noting that at this time proposals had not been presented to any Council Committees and no formal decisions had been taken by the Council.

The Chief Executive reported that the College was now looking to identify a new site.  In November 2017, the (new) Leader of the Council had attended a meeting with the Principal of London South East College (which was also attended by the Children, Education and Families Portfolio Holder and the Chief Executive).  At this meeting the possibility of exploring a loan from the Council to the College was discussed.

In response to questions from Members the Chief Executive confirmed that as far as he was aware no further meetings had taken place with the Principal of London South East Colleges.  No update had been provided by the College concerning the progress of the submission to the GLA.

In respect of the loan, at a rate of 6%, which the Council had offered to the College, Members queried the intention with regard to the Outer London Business Funding given the remit of training and questioned whether the offer of a loan was in place of the funding.  The Chief Executive confirmed that the loan was in place of the funding and clarified that the £3.5m identified by the Executive was for skills, training and development in the Biggin Hill area as a development centre.

The Committee explored the issues of the loan at an interest rate of 6%.  The Chief Executive reported that the Leader had tasked the Director of Finance with making the terms of the loan as attractive as possible.  Given the impact of the expansion of the College the Director of Finance had felt that a rate of 6% was appropriate in the circumstances.  The expansion of the College had affected its finances and this raised questions about the use of taxpayer, Council funding under these circumstances.

Turning to the letter to the Principal of the College dated 6^th June 2017, the Chairman suggested that anyone reading the letter would naturally assume that funding of up to £3m was being offered.  The Chairman suggested that the letter, the offer of a loan at 6%, and the Leader’s response to a question posed at the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee on 5^th September 2018, did not reflect on the Council in a positive manner.  In response the Chief Executive stressed that throughout the process the Council had been supportive of the proposal for an Aeronautical College at Biggin Hill, however this support was subject to the formal decision making process of the Council.  Following the delivery of the 6^th June 2017 letter, the College had submitted a bid to the GLA reflecting funding of £1.2m (not the £3m referenced in the letter), this indicated that the College had not expected funding of  £3m from the Council.  The Executive’s consideration of £3m funding had been on the basis of the Council gaining a significant asset.  However, events moved quickly.  When the site moved to (3) Officers had concerns about the value of the £1.2m funding as the Council estimates indicated that the proposed infrastructure would cost significantly less.  Since November 2017, there had been no further discussions with the College, although there had been some unconfirmed hearsay about consideration of a 4^th and 5^th site (the 5^th site being within the Business Park).

The Chairman also expressed concern that neither the Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Families, nor the Portfolio Holder for Renewal, Recreation and Housing were aware of the existence of the letter.  The Chairman expressed serious concern that it appeared that Officers had not adequately prepared the Portfolio Holder for Renewal, Recreation and Housing for a question that had been asked at the recent meeting of Full Council.  The Chairman highlighted that Members should be able to expect clear answers to questions posed at Council.  In response the Chief Executive agreed to investigate how well prepared the Portfolio Holder had been for answering the question, highlighting that Officers were not responsible for the final answer given at a meeting of Full Council.

Concluding the discussion, the Chairman reiterated that the events did not reflect well on the Council.  The proposal for an Aeronautical College presented a major opportunity for training in the Borough and to this end £3m funding had been set aside, yet to date nothing had been spent.  The Chairman queried whether the change in Council leadership had coloured the approach to an Aeronautical College at Biggin Hill.

Work Programme

The Committee agreed to hold a Special Meeting at the beginning of December 2018.  The purpose of the meeting to consider the following issues:

1. Analysis of Education undertaken by the Director of Education

2. Scrutiny of the Education Budget

It was also suggested that as the Portfolio Holder had been unable to attend this meeting he should be asked to provide an update to the Special meeting.

RESOLVED: That:

1. David Hullah (Secondary Parent Governor Representative) be appointed as a Co-opted Member to the Children, Education & Families Select Committee for 2018/19 with voting rights;

2. Progress on matters arising from previous meetings be noted; and

3. The 2018/19 work programme be agreed subject to the amendments outlined above.