Agenda item

Report CEF21048

The Executive was asked to approve and agree to the property transaction for the disposal of the Dorset Road Infant School following the amalgamation of the school with Castlecombe Primary School. 

The Committee noted the addendum to the report that had been tabled and published on the website with the meeting papers.

Cllr David Cartwright address the Committee as Ward Member and reported that members of the Mottingham Resident’s Association were watching progress on this issue closely.  He noted that there were serious structural defects with the school building and that the school was not a listed building.  The Resident’s Association had indicated that its preference was for a housing development.

In response to questions, the Head of Strategic Place Planning confirmed that the process for disposal was elongated as the site is protected by a number of pieces of legislation protecting public land. Section 77 applications to the Secretary of State for Education for the disposal of school land often take a year.  The Regional Schools Commissioner had already taken a decision around enabling the schools to amalgamate into the new Elmstead Wood Primary School, which included that the proceeds from the sale of the Dorset Road side would go towards the costs of ensuring that new amalgamated school could physically admit all the pupils from both Castlecombe Primary School and Dorset Road Infant School.  The Secretary of State would determine how funds would be used.  The exact costs of the works would not be known until tenders had been received and there could potentially be a funding gap.  The Trust was responsible for the delivery of the Elmstead Wood School proposal and discussions around any funding gap would need to include the DfE. The Council’s contribution was capped at the level of the capital receipt.

RESOLVED: That the Executive be recommended to:

1.  Notes that the amalgamation of the Dorset Infant School and Castlecombe Primary School academies, operated by The Spring Partnership Trust, has been approved by the Department for Education. The new amalgamated school will be called Elmstead Wood Primary School and will be based at the Castlecombe Primary School site.

2.  Authorise the Director of Education to apply and obtain formal consent from the Secretary of State for Education to dispose of the Dorset Road Infant School site.

3.  Authorise the Council disposing of the Dorset Road Infant School once the 125-year academy lease has been terminated, and the land has reverted to the Council and subject to obtaining the requisite consent and approval of the Secretary of State for Education.

4.  Authorise the reinvestment of the capital receipt obtained from a disposal of the property at Dorset Road, estimated at £500,000, to improve the facilities at Castlecombe Primary School site in accordance with Section 77 of the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998 and Schedule 1 of the Academies Act 2010.

5.  Authorise that the Council’s contribution to support the amalgamation of the schools be capped at the value of the capital receipt achieved from the disposal of the Dorset Road Infants School site.

6.  Delegate authority for the Director of Education, in consultation with the Director of Corporate Services and Governance, Director of Finance and Director of Housing, Planning, Property and Regeneration, and the Portfolio Holder for Children Education and Families, to agree and settle the commercial terms of the disposal and to enter into all relevant legal agreements and any other ancillary legal documentation relating thereto and to deal with publicising, if appropriate, any Open Space Notices and considering representations received.

7.  Note that Secretary of State for Education’s consent to dispose of Dorset Road Infants School does not change the Local Plan designation of the site for education use and that any planning application relating to the site will have to demonstrate how relevant Development Plan polices, notably Local Plan Policy 27 Education and Policy 20 Community Facilities, have been addressed.