That:

(a)  the director for children’s wellbeing be authorised to agree heads of terms between the council and the Education and Skills Agency (ESFA) (on behalf of the Secretary of State) for the construction of a building to accommodate the new 16-19 Local Authority Commissioned SEN School

(b)  subject to the approval of the Secretary of State for Education to the appointment of a provider to:

a.   agree that part of the land identified at appendix 1 be approved for use by the appointed provider for a period of up to 125 years,

b.  the director for children’s wellbeing, following consultation with the solicitor to the council and chief finance officer, be authorised to take all operational decisions necessary to make the site available, including the agreement of a lease of up to 125 years for part of the former Broadlands site (as shown on the plan at appendix 1) of an area sufficient for a special school of 50 pupils to the successful promoter, the area being no less than 1 hectare as recommended in DfE Building Bulletin 104 – “Area Guidelines for SEND and Alternative Provision”, the remaining land to remain in the ownership of the council

(c)  the ESFA be requested to deliver the building project at its own risk with funding provided by the Secretary of State.

1.    The council could withdraw from the programme of new special free schools. This would mean that children and families in Herefordshire would not benefit from the proposed 16+ special free school, and would have no realistic alternative means of providing the same benefits from council resources. The council would be able to benefit from the site of the former Broadlands Primary School by selling it for development purposes. This option is not recommended as the value of the government investment in a new school would be significantly greater than the lost receipt.

2.    An alternative site could be considered. This option is rejected as the council does not own or control an alternative site of sufficient area (one hectare) centrally located in Hereford, with ready accessibility to mainstream post 16 provision. The process to select a provider has been conducted on the basis that the old Broadlands Primary School site would be made available; after Cabinet previously agreed to this “in principle”. Identifying another site at this stage would be extremely disruptive and might lead to the Secretary of State excluding Herefordshire from the current programme.

3.    An alternative approach would be for the council to deliver the construction of the new school building. Although the funding would still be provided by the ESFA, the risks associated with the project would rest with the council. These would include cost risks and risks associated with late delivery. This has been rejected in order to reduce risks to the council.

4.    A report setting out the appraisal of alternative sites is set out at Appendix 2, and these are discussed in the following section.