Purpose

Proposed decision:
 
The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills is
asked to:
 
(i).      Approve the allocation of
£1,430,000 capital funding from the Children’s, Young
People and Education modernisation capital budget to replace the
modular classroom and wooden hall/classroom at Langdon Primary
School;
(ii).      Delegate authority to the
Director of Infrastructure in consultation with the Director of
Education to enter into any necessary contracts or other legal
agreements as required to implement this decision; and
(iii).     Authorise the Director of
Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within
the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged
under the contracts.
 

Background
Langdon Primary School is a small primary
school in Dover District with a PAN of 15. It is a popular school
which serves a rural community.  For
September 2024, there 36 preferences in total with 14 places
allocated.  We would expect the Yr. R to
be full for September 2024.
 
Two classrooms are in the main school
building, two are in modular/wooden buildings.  The modular/wooden buildings have reached the end
of their usable life.
 
Despite the school maintaining both buildings,
the condition surveys undertaken by KCC and the Department of
Education in 2021 and 2022 respectively confirm that these need to
be replaced. Further maintenance is not an option.  Accordingly, replacement of the buildings has been
added to the Modernisation Programme for the 2023-24 academic
year. 
 
Feasibility studies have explored options to
replace the current buildings with either a traditional brick build
or a modular build.  Replacing the
buildings with a bespoke modular solution has been identified as
the is the most straightforward and economically viable
solution. 
 
Financial
Implications
Capital: The proposed works have been taken to
RIBA stage 3 and are estimated at £1,430,000. Planning
permission has been granted and all surveys have been completed.
The proposal was first recognised and added to the Modernisation
Programme for the 2023-24 academic year, and as a result this sum
has been included within the modernisation school capital programme
that was recently agreed by the Council as part of the Medium Term
Financial Plan for 2024-27. 
 
Revenue:  A total
of £70,000 revenue funding is required to provide one
temporary mobile classroom for the duration of the building works.
This was not known at the time of setting the 2024-25 revenue
budget and so will be reported as an unfunded pressure on the
revenue budget in the Cabinet financial monitoring report during
2024-25. The Directorate are looking at ways they may be able to
offset this unplanned spend with other possible underspends either
within the mobile budget or within the wider Education budget
 
Should the scheme not proceed through to
completion, any costs incurred at the time of cessation would
become abortive costs and are likely to be recharged to Revenue.
This would be reported through the regular financial monitoring
reports to Cabinet.

Decision

As Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, I agree
to:

 

 
(i).       
Approve the allocation of £1,430,000 capital
funding from the Children’s, Young People and Education
modernisation capital budget to replace the modular classroom and
wooden hall/classroom at Langdon Primary School;

 (ii).       
Delegate authority to the  Director of Infrastructure in consultation with
the Director of Education to enter into any necessary contracts or
other legal agreements as required to implement this decision;
and

(iii).       
Authorise the Director of Infrastructure to be the
nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements
and to enter into variations as envisaged under the
contracts.