To authorise the commissioning of a feasibility study by (or through) Herefordshire Council Property Services for the rebuild of Peterchurch Primary School on its existing site.

The cabinet member children and families introduced the item. She highlighted that:

·         Peterchurch Primary school occupied a poor set of buildings with significant ongoing maintenance costs and undersized classrooms, the desire to replace the buildings had been recognised for some years;

·         a range of options had been explored, including relocation to the nearby high school site, however this option would incur substantial additional costs and was not supported within the community;

·         the proposed feasibility study would assess sequencing of the build, requirements for temporary accommodation, options for dealing with the power cables that crossed part of the site and options for providing a new roof for the swimming pool;

·         the feasibility study would provide a block plan of the proposed layout of the new school, a plan for deliver and set out costs;

·         providing these new school buildings would support the council’s corporate objective to give children the best start in life.

The councillor in whose ward the school was located (Golden Valley North) commented that there was complete community support for the proposed rebuild. The pool was important to the local community so options to replace the roof would be welcomed. There were also opportunities to look at an environmentally friendly, low maintenance design and incorporate a drop off area for pupils off the road to reduce congestion and improve safety at peak times. The design of the new buildings should take account of potential housing development in the local area and the increase in pupil numbers that this could bring.

In discussion of the item it was noted that:

·         the sum of £180k allocated for the feasibility was a maximum and it was expected that the work would cost less than this;

·         the work would provide a costed proposal to RIBA stage 2 and procurement would start early in 2019 with the work completed by the summer at the latest;

·         investment was required to provide suitable accommodation and help maintain the good results in primary schools as noted recently by Ofsted.

Group leaders were invited to give the views of their groups. There was general support for the proposed rebuild, other the key points raised were:

·         a need to consider issues in other schools across the county, a planned review of condition surveys in 2019 was welcomed;

·         effective project management structures should be in place to ensure that the project was delivered on time and on budget;

·         information should be provided on the level of green certificate that was being sought.

Resolved that:

(a)       the director for children and families be authorised to commission feasibility work and take all other steps necessary to inform a further decision on the replacement of Peterchurch primary school and associated on-site facilities on its current site, and determination of the most appropriate route to procurement, within a budget of not more than £180k.