Fears that future of desperately needed school at risk Of desperately needed school at risk
THE future of a long-awaited new secondary school in east Bristol is in jeopardy after the government called in the planning consent.
Local authority permission for the free school in Temple Quarter could be overturned by the call-in, which will involve a public inquiry lasting at least six months.
The news comes as another blow for parents who have been campaigning for years for a new secondary school to address a shortage of year 7 places in east central Bristol.
Jenny Grinsted from BS5 Secondary Forum said the failure to deliver the school affected more than 200 children in Lawrence Hill and Barton Hill each year.
She told scrutiny councillors last week the failure was the result of a “catalogue of errors” by a number of organisations including Bristol City Council and the Department for Education.
The 1,600-place Oasis Academy Temple Quarter was originally expected to open in 2018 but is part of a much bigger development dogged by planning delays related to the complicated nature of the site.
Hundreds of homes, offices, shops, and student beds are also tied up in the planning application for the huge site on Silverthorne Lane beside the Feeder Canal.
The government was required to consider whether to call in the permission granted by the council in August because of flooding concerns from the Environment Agency.
But even before the secretary of state finally called it in at the end of last week, introducing yet another long delay, parents had been told the school would not even open in temporary accommodation until 2022 at the earliest.
Now the council’s education chiefs have made it plain there may be no new school at all, in temporary or permanent accommodation, if the planning application is rejected by the secretary for housing, communities and local government, Robert Jenrick, in six to nine months’ time.
Director of education Alison Hurley told members of the people scrutiny commission: “There is a concern and a danger the planning consent won’t go through.”
Pressed by Liberal Democrat member Tim Kent about what plans the council had in place should the planning application be rejected, Ms Hurley said it would have to find the money to permanently extend existing schools if the government would not fund another free school as an alternative.
Free schools are the responsibility of the DfE, who also provides funding for them and for temporary accommodation while they are built, but local authorities are responsible for providing sufficient school places for children in their area, the meeting heard. Commission chair Conservative councillor Claire Hiscott said it was “highly likely” the planning application would be rejected and called on officers to identify potential alternative sites for the school.
She suggested cut-price office space in the Temple Quarter area would become available post-Covid.
But cabinet member for schools Anna Keen said council officers had already made “extensive” searches for suitable sites when hunting for places for temporary accommodation, but these had all been turned down by the DfE.
In past years, children needing a year 7 place in east Bristol have been squeezed into local schools.
The council was planning to spend £4.5million on portacabins for next year’s intake, but has instead cut a more permanent deal with the Cabot Learning Federation.
CLF will create around 140 places for year 7 students, partly by moving dozens of sixth formers to a facility in South Gloucestershire, in exchange for the £4.5million which it will put towards a new post-16 facility in Speedwell.
Ms Hurley said the deal provides a solution for the September 2021 intake and “potentially” for the following year’s batch of year 7 students in east
Bristol “if the Oasis doesn’t go ahead”.
“If the Oasis goes ahead, then the cost of the temporary accommodation... would be paid for by the DfE,” she said.
Oasis Community Learning is expected to run the school if and when it opens. But the multi-academy trust stopped attending public meetings about the school in January, the meeting heard.
Cllr Keen said: “They don’t receive any funding until the school is up and running and therefore they were having to basically supply someone to act as a head teacher for a school that doesn’t exist.”
Cllr Hiscott said she did not want Oasis to “walk away”, but the trust has since said it is “committed” to the new academy.
A spokesperson said: “Oasis Community Learning is proud to be the chosen education provider for Oasis Academy Temple Quarter.
“We are committed to continuing to work closely with our partners at the DfE and Bristol City Council on delivering the new academy.”
Cllr Hiscott described the saga as a “nightmare” which, like Cllr Keen, she inherited when she became cabinet member for education in May 2016. She was replaced by Cllr Keen in December 2017.
Cllr Hiscott said the Learning City Partnership had already chosen Oasis to run the school, after the council decided to pursue the governmentfunded free school route.
It would have cost too much and taken too long for the council to build the new school itself, but the pitch from Oasis was “overly ambitious”, she said.
But campaigner Jenny Grinsted said she was not about to let the council “wash its hands” of any responsibility for the mess.
Speaking on behalf of BS5 Secondary Forum and the children and families of east Bristol, she told the commission: “There is a real risk that this school may never open at all.
“Each year the school fails to open, over 200 children in Lawrence Hill and Barton Hill are affected. It affects their life chances and their opportunities.
“These are children who are among the most deprived and vulnerable in our city, and children from BAME [Black, Asian and minority ethnic] backgrounds are disproportionately affected.
“These are children whose interests this administration pledged to protect.
“The administration has stated that a lack of funding meant that it could not build the school itself. It has also repeatedly tried to wash its hands by claiming the delays are entirely the responsibility of the Department for Education.
“We have sympathy for the financial predicament the council finds itself in. It’s also true that central government certainly has questions to answer.
“However, this cannot disguise the fact that specific decisions within Bristol City Council have significantly contributed to the failure to deliver this school.
“We believe there has been a lack of transparency, scrutiny, democratic oversight, risk management and project management.
“We want to ensure that this same flawed process is not used to develop future schools.
“The administration also needs to be held to account for taking effective action now to ensure that Oasis Temple Quarter opens as soon as possible.
“There is a catalogue of errors that requires detailed and specific scrutiny”.
She asked the commission to take into account all the questions and points set out in the campaign group’s lengthy and detailed public forum statement to the commission.
There is a real risk that this school may never open at all. Each year the school fails to open, over 200 children in Lawrence Hill and Barton Hill are affected. It affects their life chances and their opportunities
Campaigner Jenny Grinsted