The Mayor introduced the report and agreed the reasons for urgency as set out, namely that:

“The report is being brought to Cabinet outside of the usual process as a consequence of recent redrafting to ensure decisions are informed by the most recent data so the Council meets its Best Value Duty with regard to significant capital investment.”

The report was then discussed and a number of issues were noted including:

·         The challenges in predicting the total number of school places required.

·         Whether existing buildings were suitable for the proposed uses and whether repairs were required.

·         Whether the Bow Boy’s School site was suitable for high needs provision.

·         How the Council were undertaking longer term planning on the future best use of school buildings.

Councillor Andrew Wood, Ward Councillor for Canary Wharf Ward, addressed Cabinet, commenting on a number of the points raised and in particular expressed concern that if parents did not see a suitable school near to them then they may simply leave the Borough.

The Mayor welcomed all the contributions to the discussion and, taking the recommendations in turn, agreed the recommendations as set out.

RESOLVED

1.    To note the contents of this report and the anticipated out-turn for the 2016/17 Children’s Services Capital Programme and proposed allocation of the funding available in 2017/2020 as set out in Appendix A.1 and 2 (paragraph 3.2) to the report;

2.    To note the deferral of the scheme to create a new primary school on the Bromley Hall School site (paragraph 3.5 of the report);

3.    To note that discussions are ongoing regarding the future use of the former Bow Boys’ School site to meet primary place needs in the area and wider high needs special provision requirements (paragraph 3.10 of the report)

4.    To approve the adoption of a capital estimate of £5m for the opening of a primary school at Wood Wharf (paragraph 4.3 to the report);

5.    To agree that the Council should enter into an Agreement for Lease with Canary Wharf Group for the proposed school (paragraph 3.27 of the report) and authorise the Corporate Director, Governance to finalise the terms of the lease and agreement for lease;

[Note – at the Cabinet Meeting held on 28 November 2017 – it was agreed that the above recommendation should be altered to state that the delegation was to the Corporate Director, Place, following consultation with the Corporate Director, Governance.]

6.    To approve the adoption of a capital estimate of £9m for works at Langdon Park and George Green’s Schools to provide additional 6^th Form accommodation and also the replacement of the temporary classroom block at George Green’s School (paragraph 4.4 of the report);

7.    To approve the adoption of a capital estimate of £3m for works at Bow School to provide additional accommodation (paragraph 4.5 of the report);

8.    To agree that authority is delegated to  the Corporate Director, Children’s Services, in consultation with the Corporate Director of Resources, to agree tenders for projects in respect of all proposed tenders referred to in this report, within the approved programmes and capital estimate;

9.    To agree that authority is delegated to the Corporate Director, Children’s Services, in consultation with the Corporate Director of Resources, to prepare and carry out a Bill of Reductions for any scheme that exceeds the budget to ensure expenditure is contained within the agreed costs.