Contact: Bob Eardley, Strategic Planning Manager, 01962 846275. Email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report sets out proposed changes to the 2004/05 capital programme.

1.2 The proposals in this report support Aim 1 of the Corporate Strategy (Maximising life opportunities) by proposing allocations of funding to improve the learning environments of Hampshire schools.

1.3 Race and equality impact assessment has been considered in the development of this report and no adverse impact has been identified.

2. Capital receipts and carry forward from 2003/04

2.1 Capital receipts totalling £1.788m are due for addition to 2004/05 capital programme resources as a result of land sales in 2003/04. Of these receipts £0.248m is earmarked against the east New Forest review of special school provision, leaving £1.540m available to increase the resources available to the capital programme.

2.2 A total of £12.691m of 2003/04 resources was unspent at the end of the financial year. Of this total, £11.069m relates to projects which were not started and have been carried forward to the current year. These are listed in full in Appendix 1. The remaining sum of £1.622m is unallocated and is, therefore, available to add to 2004/05 resources. This is made up principally of retained capital receipts, developers' contributions and funding for the expansion of popular schools. Resources in the last category were not allocated to specific projects, as the difference between the cost of projects in recent years to expand schools and the amounts allocated through credit approvals have been met from elsewhere in the capital programme

2.3 It is necessary to update the costs of the projects carried forward from 2003/04 to November 2003 prices. This will require additional resources of £0.372m, as shown in Table 1:

Table 1

School	Current allocation £'m	Revised allocation £'m
Brune Park Community, Gosport	1.184	1.255
Eggar's Secondary, Alton	0.862	0.914
Frogmore Community	0.752	0.797
Grateley Primary	0.434	0.460
Hamble Community Sports College	0.256	0.264
Hiltingbury Infant	0.378	0.401
Long Sutton Primary	0.397	0.421
Priestlands Community, Lymington	0.877	0.930
Wherwell Primary	0.520	0.551
Minor works	0.523	0.562
Totals	6.183	6.555

2.4 A further allowance needs to be made for furniture and equipment funding totalling £0.164m, which has been allocated to schools but not yet spent. Taking these needs into account, £2.873m remains from capital receipts and resources carried forward from 2003/04. This sum is available to be added to the current year's resources. The effect is to help reduce the funding shortfall of some £7m for future years and to meet the funding pressures set out in section 3 of this report. The overall position is summarised in Table 2 below:

Table 2

Resources		Expenditure
	£'m		£'m
Capital receipts	1.788	Cost of c/f schemes	11.069
Unallocated resources c/f	12.690	Inflation on c/f schemes	0.372
		Capital receipts earmarked for specific projects	0.248
		Furniture and equipment allocated but not spent	0.164
Totals	14.478		11.853
Available resources = £2.625m (£14.478m - £11.853m)

3. Amendments to the 2004/05 capital programme

Lakeside School, Chandler's Ford

3.1 There is provision of £1.800m in the 2004/05 capital programme for major renovation work at Lakeside School, Chandler's Ford, a special school catering for secondary age boys with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. The work includes rationalisation and refurbishment of residential accommodation, improvement of specialist teaching provision and toilet refurbishment. Following the recent change in County Council policies on the provision of sprinklers, a full risk assessment was carried out to determine whether sprinklers need to be fitted to all or part of the building. The result of the assessment was that while sprinklers were needed in the residential part of the school, but not elsewhere, upgrading work was needed to existing fire precautions to comply with modern standards. The estimated cost of all the fire precaution measures is £0.380m. It is proposed that Policy and Resources meets the cost of the installation of sprinklers ((£0.213m) and that the Education capital programme meets the cost of the fire precautions upgrade (£0.167m).

3.2 Some additional works are also necessary to comply with new acoustic regulations and recent DfES guidance, the total estimated cost of which is £0.133m. Policy and Resources is also meeting the costs of additional landlord work. It is recommended that the additional costs set out above, totalling £0.300m, are met from the unallocated capital receipts identified in section 2 above and that provision for the major project at Lakeside School be increased to £2.100m.

New Youth building at Hamble Community Sports College

3.3 A programme of major improvements and extensions to Hamble Community Sports College is currently in hand. The total cost of this project is £0.873m and funding is from a number of sources. £0.499m of the total cost is being met from the Education capital programme.

3.4 As part of the overall project, it is proposed to replace the existing inadequate youth provision on the college site with a new building. The estimated cost of this element of the project is £0.270m. Available funding, including contributions from the capital programme, Connexions and the Youth Service, totals £0.220m, a shortfall of £0.050m.

3.5 A successful application has been made by the Youth Service to the Government Office for the South East for grant under the Disability Discrimination Act for a contribution of £0.050m to cover the shortfall. This allocation is to cover elements of the building work which are necessary to meet the requirements of the DDA, the cost of which exceeds £0.050m. A further £0.008m needs to be added to cover fees and it is proposed that this is met from the capital programme contingency. It is recommended that the additional resources are added to the capital programme and that provision is increased by £0.050m to £0.557m.

Sharps Copse Early Years Centre, Havant

3.6 The children's centre concept was promoted in the Interdepartmental Childcare Review report Delivering for children and families published in November 2002, and reinforced in the Green Paper Every Child Matters.. Children's centres will serve children and families, particularly in disadvantaged communities and through an integrated approach will provide holistic support for children's development, support to families with young children and will facilitate the return to work or study of parents who are currently unemployed. Children's centres will bring together locally available services and integrate management and staffing structures but will not necessarily be developed on one site. All children's centres must offer access to the following integrated core services:        

· early education integrated with childcare

· family support and outreach to parents

· child and family health services.

3.7 Hampshire County Council's allocation to take forward the children's centre initiative is as follows:

Total indicative revenue funding for 2004-2006:       £0.210m       
Total indicative capital funding for 2004-2006:         £0.791m       

3.8 The County Council has submitted a strategic proposal for 9 children's centres, building on existing Sure Start local programmes, Neighbourhood Nurseries and Early Excellence Centre initiatives. The development at Sharps Copse Early Years Centre (EYC), Havant, builds on a new neighbourhood nursery, integrated with the maintained nursery, to provide 90 places for children aged 0-5 years. Funding of £0.330m for the refurbishment of the community wing has been identified as part of the children's centre submission. Implementation plans for all projects are currently being considered for approval by the Minister for Children and confirmation of the capital approval process is awaited. Initial feedback from officers within the Sure Start Unit about Hampshire's strategic plan, including the Sharps Copse EYC project is positive. A project has been designed and is ready to be implemented. To avoid further delay, it is recommended that £0.330m be added to the resources for 2004/05 from the capital programme contingency and that a major project to refurbish the community wing at Sharps Copse Early Years Centre, Havant be added to the 2004/05 capital programme.

Brighton Hill Pre-School, former Beech Down Primary School, Basingstoke

3.9 An approach was made to the County Council in March 2004 by the local early years provider, Brighton Hill Pre-School, to lease part of the existing Beech down Primary School site as their premises from July 2004 for a period of one year. The pre-school's current premises in a church hall will shortly become unavailable.

3.10 Beech Down's Year R building is suitable for use by the pre-school, some work is needed to bring the building up to the required statutory standard. The proposed works include a new door system, replacement main entrance doors, provision of new heaters, creation of an adult toilet and adult height kitchen area, alterations to internal doors, making good paths and fencing. The total estimated cost is £0.017m and it is recommended that this is met from the provision in the capital programme for early years projects.

Oak Meadow Early Years Centre, Fareham

3.11 The 2001-2002 capital programme included provision of £1m from the William Price Trust, an educational charity operating in Fareham, to fund improvements to schools in that area. An allocation of £0.081m was made from these resources to equip an early years centre in the former infant school building at Oak Meadow Primary School and initial adaptation work has been completed. £0.066m remains to develop the centre further. A full scheme of adaptation has now been finalised, which includes upgrading and refurbishment of existing toilet facilities, provision a separate sleeping area for babies and a utility room. The former kitchen and storage areas have also been included in the project, together with the provision of a further 10 car parking spaces. The total estimated cost project is £0.147m.

3.12 All of the projects identified for funding through the William Price Trust have now either been completed or are in hand. Currently, there are unallocated resources of £0.164m, comprising £0.046m contingency, £0.007m underspend and £0.111m accumulated interest. To enable the early years centre project to proceed, it is proposed that the current allocation is increased to £0.147m from the unallocated resources. A further report will be brought forward later in the financial year recommending other projects for allocation of the remaining funds.

Brune Park Community School, Gosport - science laboratory refurbishment

3.13 Brune Park Community School, Gosport is using funding from its devolved capital allocation to refurbish two science laboratories. The funding available is, however, insufficient to meet the full cost and the school has asked the County Council for a contribution of £0.015m to enable the work to proceed. Tenders for the refurbishment of science laboratories in the current year's capital programme are below budget and the sum requested is available from the overall allocation for this work. this contribution would represent a very worthwhile investment and it is recommended that the resources should be made available.

Staff accommodation improvements at Connaught Secondary School Aldershot

3.14 The capital programme report of 13 May 2004 referred to several schemes submitted by schools where use of Seed Challenge funding was not appropriate and where alternative approaches for funding would be explored. One of these is a project to improve accommodation for staff through a small extension at The Connaught Secondary School, Aldershot, which is located in an area of relative deprivation. The school has developed a scheme at a cost of £0.064m and has £0.034m available towards the cost from its own resources. There is provision of £0.050m remaining in the 2004/05 capital programme for the staff workforce programme and it is recommended that £0.030m is made available towards the cost of The Connaught School's project.

4. NDS Modernisation Fund - School Security

4.1 As reported in January 2004, a sum of £0.350m was identified in the 2004/05 capital programme to address the need to improve school security. As in previous years the Security Panel, consisting of governor, headteacher and officer representatives, agreed to target the funding at primary and special schools and in April these schools were invited to apply for grant from this funding against the following criteria, which are in descending order of priority:

(a) visitor access control, including signing, small scale external lighting and small scale fencing;

(b) provision of or extension to intruder alarm system;

(c) other risk areas.

4.2 The number of schools applying was 247, requesting some £0.860m of funding. Therefore only those works in category (a) above, were eligible. In order to keep within the overall budget it is possible only to fund those schools at 80% of the sums requested. However, this does mean that 173 primary and 14 special schools will benefit through the allocation of £0.356m of grant. Meeting the highest priority requirements at 80% of the total cost requires an additional £0.006m, which it is recommended is met from the overall capital programme contingency.

5. Anticipation of developer's contribution - Butts Primary School, Alton

5.1 This school applied for Seed Challenge grant in 2004/05 with a project to extend the existing building to improve administrative accommodation and provide a multipurpose teaching room, at an estimated cost of £0.120m, of which £0.060m was to be met through Seed Challenge grant. The project would create a study area for teachers, increase the size of the administration office and provide a teaching space for pupils with special needs. Owing to Seed Challenge funded being significantly over subscribed, it was not possible to recommend approval for this project. However, as a result of a new housing development in the school's catchment area, a developer's contribution is due, which will support the funding of the building project. The developer's contribution is due to be received in the current financial year. To enable the project to go ahead now, it is recommended that £0.050m is made available, initially from the contingency fund. The remainder of the cost would be met from donations and the school's devolved capital.

6. Capital funding for specialist schools

6.1 Eight secondary schools have recently been successful in applying for specialist school status. These schools receive a one-off capital allocation. Table 3 below shows those schools to which allocations have been made so far in the current financial year.

Table 3

School	Specialism	Amount of allocation £'m
Bay House Secondary, Gosport	Mathematics and computing	0.100
Brune Park, Gosport	Performing Arts	0.100
Cranbourne Secondary, Basingstoke	Business and Enterprise	0.100
Crestwood Community, Eastleigh	Business and Enterprise	0.122
Eggar's Community, Alton	Science	0.100
Kings' Secondary, Winchester	Business and Enterprise	0.100
Robert Mays Secondary, Odiham	Combined Science and Mathematics and computing	0.100
The Crookhorn Community, Waterlooville	Technology	0.126
Total		0.848

6.2 It is recommended that the allocations shown in Table 3 are added to the 2004/05 capital programme.

7. Temporary classrooms

The Vyne Community School, Basingstoke

7.1 The school currently has 681 pupils on roll and a net capacity of 756. The school's published admission number is 150. In September 2004 the school will admit 157 pupils, as seven pupils gained a place at the school following an independent appeals panel decision. The school has been over-subscribed for the past three years and 201 parents applied for the Year 7 places available in September 2004. There are 153 pupils in the current Year 7, 155 in Year 8 and 162 in Year 9.

7.2 The school provides 12 resourced spaces for pupils who have language impairment and also has 25% of its pupils on the SEN audit. To reflect the high level of support that a significant number of pupils need, the school organises into six teaching groups in the majority of the curriculum to provide small class sizes. Although the net capacity exceeds the number on roll, the school suffers from under-provision in general teaching spaces to support such organisation and its construction does not allow the re-arrangement of spaces without significant building work. In view of the numbers the school is having to admit having lost admission appeals, it has to organise in this way.

7.3 In order to reduce the number of pupils in the Vyne's feeder schools, Merton Junior school will become a feeder school to John Hunt of Everest from September 2006. As the replacement John Hunt of Everest School is planned to open in the 2006/07 academic year, it is envisaged that in future admissions to the Vyne School will not exceed 150.

7.4 To meet the immediate need, it is recommended that a double temporary classroom is provided until August 2006 to provide the school with accommodation to enable it to organise in teaching groups that reflect pupil numbers and pupils' educational needs. Providing temporary accommodation until that date will enable the changes in feeder schools to take place and John Hunt of Everest School to establish itself in the new school building.

7.5 A purpose built temporary unit is currently located on the Vyne School site, providing space for a privately run pre-school, which is due to close at the end of this term, as there is now sufficient provision elsewhere in the area. This unit is not suitable for use by secondary age pupils and will be removed to another location where a temporary unit housing early years provision is in poor condition and needs to be replaced.

Nightingale Primary School

7.6 On 25 March 2004, the Executive Member, Education approved the siting of four double temporary classrooms and one temporary office unit at Nightingale Primary School Eastleigh during building works at the school. From recent discussions with the headteacher, it is now apparent that the most satisfactory way of safeguarding the health and safety of pupils during the building works is to accommodate all of the pupils in temporary accommodation. In addition to the temporary buildings already agreed, approval is now sought for a fifth double unit to be provided for the duration of the building works to enable pupils to be accommodated away from the construction site. All temporary buildings will be removed when the construction work is complete.

Recommendations

1. That, subject to the approval of the Executive Member, Policy and Resources, the following variations to the 2004/05 Education capital programme be approved:

(a) the addition of resources totalling £14.479m:

£1.788m from capital receipts;

£11.069m carry over schemes;

£1.622m unallocated in 2003/04.

(b) that projects listed in Appendix 1 be carried forward from 2003/04 to 2004/05;

(c ) that allocations for major projects in the 2004/05 capital programme be varied as follows:

School	Current allocation £'m	Revised allocation £'m
Brune Park Community, Gosport	1.184	1.255
Eggar's Secondary, Alton	0.862	0.914
Frogmore Community	0.752	0.797
Grateley Primary	0.434	0.460
Hamble Community	0.256	0.264
Hiltingbury Infant	0.378	0.401
Long Sutton Primary	0.397	0.421
Priestlands Community, Lymington	0.877	0.930
Wherwell Primary	0.520	0.551

(d) that the allocation for minor works in the 2004/05 capital programme carried over from 2003/04 be increased by £0.039m;

(e) that provision for the major project at Lakeside School, Chandler's Ford be increased by £0.300m to £2.100m from unallocated capital receipts;

(f) that provision for the major project at Hamble Community Sports College be increased by £0.050m to £0.557m through DfES grant and from the capital programme contingency;

(g) that resources of £0.330m be added to the provision for early years developments in the 2004/05 capital programme from the contingency to fund development of a Children's Centre at Sharps Copse Early Years Centre, Havant;

(h) that a major project to refurbish the community wing at Sharps Copse Early Years Centre, Havant be added to the 2004/05 capital programme, at an estimated cost of £0.330m;

(i) that a project at Beech Down Primary School, Basingstoke to upgrade facilities for use by a pre-school at a cost of £0.017m be added to the provision for minor works;

(j) that provision for a minor works scheme to upgrade facilities at the Oak Meadow Early Years Centre, Fareham be increased from £0.066m to £0.147m from the provision in the capital programme from the William Price Trust;

(k) that an allocation of £0.015m from the provision for secondary school science improvements be made towards the cost of work at Brune Park Community School, Gosport;

(l) that an allocation of £0.030m from the provision for workforce accommodation improvements be made towards the cost of work at The Connaught Secondary School, Aldershot;

(m) that the allocation for school security measures be increased by £0.006m from the capital programme contingency to £0.356m;

(n) that a contribution of £0.050m from the capital programme contingency be made available to support a project at The Butts Primary School, Alton, pending receipt of a developer's contribution;

(o) that resources of £0.848m be added to the provision for minor works in the 2004/05 capital programme in respect of specialist school allocations at the following schools:

School	Amount of allocation £'m
Bay House Secondary, Gosport	0.100
Brune Park, Gosport	0.100
Cranbourne Secondary, Basingstoke	0.100
Crestwood Community, Eastleigh	0.122
Eggar's Community, Alton	0.100
Kings' Secondary, Winchester	0.100
Robert Mays Secondary, Odiham	0.100
The Crookhorn Community, Purbrook	0.126

2. That approval be given for the application for planning permission until 31 August 2006 for a double temporary classroom to be located at The Vyne School, Basingstoke and for a further double temporary classroom to be located at Nightingale Primary School Eastleigh.

3. That it be a RECOMMENDATION to the Executive Member, Policy and Resources, that the application for temporary classroom accommodation listed in Recommendation 2 is approved until 31 August 2006.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB: the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

None.