This meeting of the Executive Board is scheduled to discuss a range of topics, including the Council's budget, its homelessness strategy, school admission arrangements and proposals for capital funding allocations to schools. We do not know for certain whether these topics will be discussed, or what decisions will be made.

Budget Monitoring

This meeting will include a report on the Council’s finances. This will cover a range of areas including an update on the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account and Capital Programme based on spending from April to the end of October 2024. The report identifies a forecast overspend of £4.687m for the General Fund and £3.773m for the Housing Revenue Account. An update on the progress of the Council's savings programme is also scheduled to be provided.

Nottingham Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Prevention Strategy 2025-2029

The Executive Board are scheduled to consider the draft Nottingham Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Prevention Strategy 2025-2029. The draft strategy outlines the challenges faced by the Council in the current context of increasing demand for housing assistance. The vision for the strategy is:

Everyone receives quality advice and support to stay in their home or find somewhere to live.

Wherever possible homelessness and rough sleeping is prevented and

When it cannot be prevented it is brief, does not reoccur and its impact on individuals, families, and communities is minimised

The strategy identifies four priority areas:

1. Homelessness is prevented and does not reoccur
2. The issues causing homelessness are addressed
3. Homelessness is brief
4. Rough Sleeping is reduced

The draft strategy recommends the introduction of a Homelessness Reduction Board, bringing direct leadership and accountability to the delivery of the strategy.

School Admission Arrangements 2026/2027

The Executive Board are scheduled to receive a report on the proposed changes to admission arrangements for community schools and the processes for coordinating admissions with other admission authorities.

The proposed changes include expanding the number of secondary school preferences for applications from 4 to 6. The rationale for this change is to improve families' chances of being offered a place at a school of their choosing.

The report also suggests extending the closing date for waiting lists from the May half term to the end of June. The report says that this extension would:

be particularly beneficial for families relocating to the area toward the end of the academic year, offering them a realistic opportunity to secure a suitable school placement without unnecessary delay

Finally, the report proposes to introduce a waiting list for year 6 applications, to make it easier for families who move to the area during the last year of primary school to apply for places at local schools.

Schools Capital Maintenance Grant Allocations 2024/2025

The Executive Board are scheduled to receive a report on the Schools Capital Maintenance Grant, a grant that the Council receives from the Department for Education to address urgent maintenance works at Nottingham Schools.

The report recommends accepting the 2024/25 grant of £2,692,168 from the Department for Education and also proposes to supplement that grant with £204,518 from the Primary Health and Safety fund.

The report identifies 14 projects that have been prioritised for funding using a draft capital maintenance strategy. The projects are:

• Southwold Primary and Nursery School - asbestos removal and roofing works
• Carrington Primary and Nursery School - roofing works
• Crabtree Farm Primary School - roofing works
• Seely Primary School - re-routing of heating pipes
• Dunkirk Primary and Nursery School (Abbey campus) - roofing works
• Dunkirk Primary and Nursery School (Highfields campus) - roofing works
• Walter Halls Primary and Early Years School - roofing and access works
• Mellers Primary and Nursery School - heating
• Melbury Primary School - heating
• Heathfield Primary and Nursery School - roofing
• Fernwood Primary School - heating
• Rise Park Primary and Nursery School - roofing
• Westglade Primary School - roofing
• Hempshill Hall Primary School - structural works

The report identifies a further contingency of £624,686. The report recommends that authority to approve this contingency should be delegated to the Corporate Director for Children and Education Services.

To create a Special Educational Needs Provision at Rise Park Primary School and The Milford Academy Primary School

The report pack contains a report on plans to create Special Educational Needs provisions at Rise Park Primary and Nursery School and The Milford Academy Primary School. The report pack describes how the number of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities has been growing. The report says:

Nottingham is experiencing considerable growth in the number of young people identified as having Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and there is an urgent, significant and increasing need for additional capacity to meet this demand.

The report recommends allocating £1.2m to create the new provision at Rise Park Primary and Nursery School and £800k to create the provision at The Milford Academy Primary School. The money will be drawn from the High Needs Capital Fund. An extra £58,165 will be allocated to Rise Park Primary and Nursery School from a Section 106¹ payment that was made as part of a housing development.

The Rise Park provision will be funded from a Section 106 agreement relating to a development at the site of the former Padstow School on Eastglade Road, for which the conditions of spending require the funds to be:

used towards the provision of new and /or enhanced primary and secondary education facilities within the City of Nottingham to accommodate pupils generated by the Development

The strategy identifies the benefit of providing special needs places locally, explaining how:

Additional specialist capacity is urgently needed for primary children in mainstream settings.

Development of Laura Chambers Lodge for Social Housing

The Executive Board are scheduled to discuss plans to redevelop the site of the former Laura Chambers Lodge care home in Clifton to create 40 new homes for social rent. The development is scheduled to be funded by the Right to Buy Replacement Fund².

The report describes how:

Increasing the HRA housing stock will help secure the necessary rental income over the medium to long term, which is vital for replenishment of the repairs reserves and operating budgets for existing and new stock.

Letting of Suites 1-4, First Floor, The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Building, Nottingham Science Park

The Executive Board are scheduled to discuss plans to let vacant office space at The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Building on Nottingham Science Park. The report describes how:

The letting will provide a significant rental income and remove existing void costs.