Purpose

The County Council has a statutory duty to
provide sufficient school places for all children who need a
place.  This is normally secured through
Basic Need expansion works initiated and delivered by the County
Council.  Where the opportunity exists
for delivery by other bodies such as the Department for Education
(DfE) and/or developers the County Council has always considered
the project on its individual merits.
 
The DfE announced in July 2022 that Holy
Trinity CE Secondary School, Crawley was one of the 500 schools
chosen by the DfE to be part of its Priority Schools Rebuilding
Programme.  The school is currently a
7 form entry (7FE) (210 pupils per year
of intake) school and the opportunity to secure a 1FE expansion (30
pupils extra per year of entry) through a contribution towards a
DfE delivered capital project will enable the County Council to
meet some of the growth of secondary school places in Crawley.
 
The DfE have advised that the indicative cost
of increasing the school from 7FE to 8FE is £3.5m plus
VAT.  The VAT will be paid and reclaimed
in accordance with the County Council process on VAT.  The figure is an estimate only and the total cost
of the additional works, and therefore the contribution, may be
higher or lower than this estimate.  The
DfE will invoice only once the final cost for the additional works
has been confirmed, and the Council will then pay this amount
(whether it is more or less than the original estimate) in
accordance with the agreement with the DfE.
 
Approval is required for the allocation of
£3.5m plus VAT of funding from the Capital Programme to
provide the DfE with the necessary contribution to enable the
increased accommodation to be provided at Holy Trinity CE Secondary
School as part of the Priority Schools Rebuilding Programme project
that is being managed and delivered by the DfE.

Decision

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young
People, Learning and Skills has approved:
 

(1)The allocation of
£3.5m plus VAT to fund the necessary works to increase the
accommodation at Holy Trinity CE Secondary School, Crawley enabling
an expansion from 7 FE (210 pupils per intake) to 8 FE (240 pupils
per intake) by using £2m of S106 monies and £1.5m basic
need funding.
 

(2)The authorisation
for the County Council’s Section 151 officer to sign the
Department for Education (DfE) Funding Agreement.
 

(3)The delegation of
authority to the Director of Law and Assurance to negotiate and
complete a Development Agreement between the County Council and the
DfE.