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Salford City Council - Record of Decision
 
I, Councillor Tracy Kelly, Statutory Deputy City Mayor, in exercise
of the powers contained within the City Council
Constitution do hereby approve:
The associated indicative budget costs of £3,252,561.00 in
respect of the creation of additional capacity at Ellesmere Park
High School and Primrose Hill Primary School.
The Reasons
are: Local authorities have a statutory
responsibility to ensure there are enough school places available
in their area for every child aged 5 to 16. The creation of
additional capacity across above two schools will support the
city’s pupil demand position, enabling  the young people of the city, access to local
school provision.
Options considered and rejected were: None
Assessment of Risk: The
creation of additional pupil capacity will assist the city council
in fulfilling its statutory duty in relation to the provision of
sufficient school places.
The source of funding is:The cost of works will be met
with the Basic Need grant allocations available.
Legal Advice obtained:
Local authorities have a
statutory responsibility to ensure there are enough school places
available in their area for every child aged 5 to 16 needing one,
as set out in section 14 of the Education Act 1996.
 
The Department of Education
(DfE) provides Basic Need capital grant funding to local
authorities to support them to meet that statutory responsibility.
The Basic Need Grant can be used to create new school places in
mainstream schools.
 
The Grant helps local
authorities meet the growing demand for school places and ensure
that all children, including those with SEND, have access to
suitable education environments. The funding is un-ringfenced
(subject to certain conditions that ensures any funding paid out
under this grant is spent efficiently) and it is for local
authorities to determine how to best use the funding to meet local
priorities. In relation to efficient use of resources DfE guidance
states: “The department expects local authorities to conduct
a robust evaluation of procurement options for any education
capital projects.”
 
In relation to using the Grant
to create new places DfE guidance states: “When expanding
existing schools, we expect local authorities to create new places
at schools (including academies and free schools) with an overall
Ofsted rating of good or outstanding, and to notify the department
where it is not possible to do so. We also expect local authorities
to prioritise schools with strong performance records by
considering a range of performance indicators and financial data,
when deciding to expand a school. Expansion can offer school
leaders the opportunity to reach more local children and to achieve
greater financial economies of scale. All schools should be
flexible in considering how best they can support the local
authority to deliver its sufficiency duty. We expect school leaders
and academy trusts to collaborate effectively with local
authorities, expanding where feasible when requested to do so by a
local authority, or increasing their admission numbers where they
have capacity, in order to meet a local need for
places.”
 
The proposals will enable the
Council to comply with its statutory duty under the Education Act
1996 to provide sufficient places for primary and secondary
education in its area.
Financial Advice obtained: 
The indicative capital costs
detailed in this report, will be funded from within the councils
Basic Need grant allocations, included within the Children’s
Services Capital Programme.
 
In respect of the works at
Ellesmere Park High School, the funding will be awarded to the
Multi Academy Trust in the form of a Grant and will be awarded in
line with the relevant agreement, funds will only be passed once
the projects have commenced. Spend will be
closely monitored to ensure the final project costs where possible
do not exceed this figure.
Procurement Advice obtained: The procurement of the modular build for
Primrose Hill was undertaken by the internal property team and was
procured by utilising the NWCH framework which is a compliant route
to market and complies with the Public Contract Regulations and the
Councils own internal contractual standing orders.
 
The procurement of Ellesmere Park
High School will be undertaken by Consilium Multi
Academy Trust and their own external partners.
As delivery of the
scheme will be led by the Multi Academy Trust and their external
partners, the procurement and delivery of the scheme should be in
line with the procurement rules, also following their own
governance procedures.
HR Advice obtained: Not
Applicable
Climate Change Advice obtained: Not Applicable
The following documents have been used to assist the decision
process: N/A
Contact Officer: Paula Newall,
Service Lead School Organisation 
                       
Telephone number: 0161 778
0447

This
decision is subject to consideration for briefing purposes by the
Lead Member for Children and Young People. The Lead Member is
supportive of the decision.
The
appropriate scrutiny to call-in the decision is the
Children’s Scrutiny Panel.               

 

 

Signed:
           Councillor
Tracy Kelly                     
      Dated:
       10/06/25                              
                       
Statutory Deputy City Mayor
 

For Democratic
Services use only

This decision was
published on 12.06.25. This
decision will come in force at 4pm on 19.06.25 unless it is called-in in accordance
with the Decision Making Process Rules.