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

1. Summary

1.1 The following decisions are sought:

1. That the following variations to the 2004/05 Education capital programme be approved:

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

(b) that provision for the major project at Hamble Community Sports College be increased by £0.058m to £0.557m through DfES grant and from the capital programme contingency;

(c) that resources of £0.330m be added to the 2004/05 capital programme to fund development of a Children's Centre at Sharps Copse Early Years Centre, Havant;

(d) 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;

2. That the applications for temporary classroom accommodation listed below are approved until 31 August 2006:

The Vyne Community School, Basingstoke - one double unit

Nightingale Primary School, Eastleigh - one double unit.

2. Reason

2.1 To approve variations to the Education capital programme.

2.2 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.

3. Other options considered and rejected - none.

4. Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or other Executive Member consulted - none

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - not applicable.

6. Reasons for the matter being dealt with if urgent - not applicable.

Approved by Date of decision

Councillor T.K. Thornber, CBE

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 £12.690m 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. It is necessary to update the costs of these projects to November 2003 prices, which will require additional resources of £0.372m. Allowance also needs to be made for furniture and equipment funding totalling £0.164m, which has been allocated to schools but not yet spent. The remaining sum of £1.085m is unallocated and is, therefore, available to add to 2004/05 resources. 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 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 £0.881m 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 £0.058m.

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 £0.058m 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's 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.

4. Temporary classrooms

The Vyne Community School, Basingstoke

4.1 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.

4.2 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.

4.3 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.

4.4 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.

4.5 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

4.6 On 8 April 2004, the Executive Member, Policy and Resources 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 the following variations to the 2004/05 Education capital programme be approved:

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

(b) that provision for the major project at Hamble Community Sports College be increased by £0.058m to £0.557m through DfES grant and from the capital programme contingency;

(c) that resources of £0.330m be added to the 2004/05 capital programme to fund development of a Children's Centre at Sharps Copse Early Years Centre, Havant;

(d) 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;

2. That the applications for temporary classroom accommodation listed below are approved until 31 August 2006:

The Vyne Community School, Basingstoke - one double unit

Nightingale Primary School, Eastleigh - one double unit.

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.