Hertfordshire County Council Leaked Document

HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL EDUCATION AND SKILLS CABINET PANELTHURSDAY 12 MAY 2011                       CABINETMONDAY 16 MAY 2011
IMPLICATIONS FOR SOUTHFIELDSPECIAL SCHOOL HATFIELD FOLLOWING THE DECISION TO APPOINT A PREFERRED BIDDER FOR THE HERTFORDSHIRE WASTE PROCUREMENT PROJECT
Joint Report of the Director Resources & Performance and the Director, ChildrenSchools and Families
Authors:                                 Dick Bowler   Estate Manager                    Tel: 01992 556223Kate Ma         Senior Planning Manager Tel: 01992 555858
Executive Members:            David Lloyd, Executive Member forResources & Economic Wellbeing
Richard Thake, Executive Member for Education & Skills

Local members:                    Stuart Pile (Hatfield South)                                                Claire Berry (Hatfield North)
1.            Purpose of report
1.1       For the Panel and Cabinet to consider the potential need for the temporary relocation of Southfield Special School in light of the possible options available and to seek authorisation from Cabinet to enter a 6 week public consultation on the relocation proposal.
2.            Summary
2.1       Southfield School is a community special school meeting the needs of children aged 4 to 11 years old with moderate learning difficulties and associated Statement of Education Needs. The school is located in Travellers Lane, adjacent to the New Barnfield Centre in Hatfield. The access road to the Centre passes the frontage of and entrance to the school.
2.2         The potential need to relocate this school has arisen as a result of the proposal for a residual waste treatment facility [RWTF] at the New Barnfield site in Hatfield. This site is proposed by Veolia ES Aurora Limited (‘Veolia’), who were appointed preferred bidder by Cabinet on 28 April 2011.
2.3         Technical work already undertaken for the County Council has confirmed that once operational there is not expected to be any reason why a new RWTF could not operate on a site adjacent toSouthfield School, nor for there to be any adverse impacts during its construction except for during the construction of improvements to the shared access road. Contingent plans for temporary relocation of the school have been prepared to respond to that impact.
2.4         The need for a temporary relocation of Southfield School and its timing has an unusually large number of dependencies. A decision potentially to relocate the school and to consult the public on this possible proposal is now required. This is needed in advance of Veolia finalising its scheme and making a planning application as the scheme design needs to be informed by the County Council’s intention and so that the Planning Authority, when considering the application, can take into account the prior arrangements made for the School if they become necessary to mitigate the impacts of the Scheme on the school.
2.5         A site in the ownership of the County Council, that would be suitable for the construction of a temporary school should that be needed as outlined above, has been identified and an application for temporary planning permission to confirm its availability would need to be made at an early date.
3.         Recommendations
3.1       The Panel is invited to recommend to Cabinet that it agrees:
a)         Veolia ES Aurora Limited is advised carefully to take into account the presence of Southfield School in finalising its Scheme and to seek to mitigate any impacts on the School so that temporary relocation is not necessary; however
b)         Authorisation of a 6 week public consultation on a proposal toprovide temporary school premises on a site at Old Rectory Drive, Hatfield;
c)         Authorisation of the making of an application for temporary planning permission for the construction and use of a temporary school at the Land at Old Rectory Drive, Hatfield; and
d)         A further report is brought to Cabinet in due course.

4.         Background
            Potential impacts from RWTF development
4.1       The reference site made available to the bidders in the waste management procurement process is shown on plan HP 1453 attached as Appendix 1. It will be noted this includes the whole of the New Barnfield Centre, the shared existing access road and lands adjoing that may be required for access improvement.
4.2       Technical work already undertaken for the County Council has confirmed that once operational there is expected to be no reason why a potential new RWTF could not operate on a site adjacent to Southfield School, nor during its construction. However improvement of the common access road to the New Barnfield Centre and Southfield School is expected to be necessary.  

4.3       The technical work shows for the design and construction approach that was modelled by the County Council that predicted noise levels during the improvement of access road works would be inappropriate for teaching and learning.  The outcome of the technical work and the potential need to relocate the school during this phase of construction has therefore been explored with a representative group of governors.                         Potential temporary school
4.4       The site of the former Howe Dell School playing fields, at Old Rectory Drive, Hatfield, has been identified as being potentially suitable, subject to the grant of temporary planning permission, for the erection of a temporary school facility. The site is shown on Plan 00108508 attached as Appendix 2. There is an existing gated access off Old Rectory Drive and there is also good road frontage to Woods Avenue, the latter potentially providing an additional access for both construction and temporary school use purposes.

4.5       It is proposed that the temporary building is procured from off site manufacturing solutions suppliers to enable efficient and rapid delivery and erection at known cost. The building would be capable of re-location at the end of its use by Southfield Schooland so potentially would enable a residual value to be secured if needed for any future school expansion project that may arise at that time.                       Consultation and authorisation
4.6       This site is within 2 miles of the current school site and therefore a move is not a prescribed alteration for which statutory process would be required. However a consultation would be required for parents and stakeholders to be advised of the proposed alternative arrangements and to be able to give their views.
4.7      The Director Children Schools and Families has delegated authority to initiate consultations, in consultation with the Executive Member.  However, in light of the decisions taken by Cabinet at its meeting on 28 April 2011 regarding the waste management procurement and the series of reports on relocation of a range of facilities on the waste management reference site it is proposed that a concurrent Cabinet authorisation be given to consult on the detail of a potential temporary relocation of Southfield School i.e. where to, for how long, etc. would provide a rounded and complete position for Cabinet.           4.8       Consultation on the potential temporary relocation is proposed to be a 6 week period to allow stakeholders to be contacted after Cabinet authorisation on 16 May 2011 and to have a decision by the autumn and in advance of a planning application for a RWTF.
4.9       A six week consultation period is proposed rather than the County Council’s standard of 12 weeks, to timetable the consultation following Cabinet authorisations and to meet timescales for the submission of a planning application on the temporary buildings on the former Howe Dell playing field site. The aim of the consultation is to seek views and comments for consideration as part of the RWTF scheme development regarding the suitability of the site and accommodation proposed for the potential relocation.

Town Planning – temporary school site
4.10    As the site identified for a temporary school is covered by an urban open land policy, and so development would not be in accordance with the development plan, Cabinet authorisation is needed for the making of a planning application, in these exceptional circumstances and for a temporary period only, for a temporary school. 

4.11    An early application for planning permission for a temporary school is needed so that a planning permission and a decision to effect the temporary relocation can be cited in the Contractor’s application for planning permission for the RWTF. Consultation with the school is a pre-requisite of the submission of the application for a temporary school planning permission.
Town Planning – New Barnfield Site
4.12    As advised above, the technical reports indicate that the predicted noise impacts from construction of improvements to the access road, as designed in the County Council feasibility studies, would affect the school premises and would make operation of the school impractical during the works. 

4.13    Should the final detailed Scheme proposed by Veolia, as submitted by them for planning permission, have the same impacts on the school then it will be necessary for the noise impact to be mitigated by either limiting the access improvement to out of school hours working or to arrange temporary relocation of the school.

4.14    Out of school hours working would be a matter for Veolia and the planning and highway authority to consider and, if it is appropriate, to agree, permit and control through planning conditions.

4.15    Temporary relocation of the School would be a matter for the County Council, as education authority, to arrange. If the Veolia Scheme does have construction impacts on the School, and a scheme of out of hours working proved to be impracticable or not permissible, it would be vital to the securing of planning permission for the RWTF that arrangements have been made for temporary relocation of the school for the relevant period.
4.16    Southfield School Governing Body has raised concerns around the improvement of the access road and from disruption not only during the road improvement works but also during the construction of the whole waste facility. 

4.17    They have expressed a preference for temporarily relocating the school for a three year period whilst the facility is built. This relocation is currently being planned to commence in September 2012, on the basis that it is anticipated that planning permission for the RWTF will be granted by August 2012 and the access improvement would be an early work.
4.18    Following appointment of Preferred Bidder, Veolia will further refine its Scheme and will engage in a period of public consultation culminating in the submission in late 2011 of a planning application for the construction of a RTWF on the New Barnfield Centre. 

4.19    The practical availability and suitability of arrangements for mitigating any impacts from the Scheme on the school will need to be known to the Planning Authority when considering the planning application and the grant of planning permission with conditions. At that stage the availability of out of school hours working or of temporary relocation of the school must be certain.
5.         Equality Implications
5.1      When considering proposals placed before Members it is important that they are fully aware of, and have themselves actively considered, the council’s statutory obligations in relation to equalities. This will include paying close attention to any equalities impact assessment produced by officers.
5.2      The Equality Act 2010 requires the council when exercising its functions to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and other conduct prohibited under the Act, promote equality of opportunity for and foster good relations with individuals with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics under the Equalities Act 2010 are: race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religious belief and pregnancy & maternity.
5.3      An Equalities Impact Assessment has identified that there could be an impact on the users of the service at Southfield Schoolwhich can be mitigated against but will require further work with Veolia.  The impact is currently considered to only be during the construction phase of the contract and will be addressed during the pre-planning consultation and as part of the planning application. The County Council intends to work with Veolia and the stakeholders at the School to manage the situation.
6.         Financial implications
6.1       The current estimate of costs is a top limit of £3.9m, with a residual value of £1.0m after the proposed three year occupation. This represents poor value for money for a temporary relocation of a school.  It is only being considered in the context of the bigger financial risk of preventing the granting of planning permission for the waste facility.  The preferred option would be for the temporary relocation to not be required as a result of careful consideration by Veolia of design and construction plans.
6.2       The current estimate of costs would be spread across 2011/12 and 2012/13.  It is programmed that works are to be completed summer 2012 but a 5% allowance would be expected for retention to fall into 2013/14.  Until there is certainty on the deliverability of the RWTF the cash flow cannot be determined
6.3       The proposed building is designed to be re-locatable so that at the end of use by Southfield can be disassembled, removed from site and erected elsewhere in the County for use in connection with any additional education accommodation as may be required in 2015 and beyond.  The building then has a residual value of up to £1 million. 
6.4       If the alternative option of sale on the open market was considered the value could be considerably less as potential purchasers may require a full strip out of the internal configuration.
6.5       These estimates exceed the current provision of £250k for this scheme in the current capital programme.  However, given proposals elsewhere on the agenda it is possible to accommodate this within the overall allocation for New Barnfield. It is therefore be necessary to seek the approval of the County Council to a variation of the capital programme. A report will be brought to the June meeting of Cabinet for consideration at the July meeting of the County Council.

7.         Conclusions

7.1      The results of the feasibility studies concerning the development of a RWTF on the New Barnfield Centre and the need to improve the access road indicate that there is expected to be noise impacts on Southfield School during the access road improvement.
7.2      Whilst there is a possibility that Veolia’s final Scheme will be designed to ensure that there are no environmental impacts on the school, and that a subsequent planning permission does not need to contain any planning conditions affecting the Scheme that arise from the proximity to the school, this outcome has to be regarded as most unlikely at this stage.

7.3      Accordingly, and to reduce the risk that the presence of the school may affect Veolia’s ability to gain and implement planning permission for the RWTF and so the county council securing the new municipal residual waste treatment service, it is incumbent on the county council to put in place contingent arrangements to enable continued operation of the school whilst a RWTF is developed at the adjoining site the New Barnfield Centre.

7.4      The most secure way in which that can be done is to plan for the contingent need to provide a temporary school at a suitable and available site nearby and to put in place all permissions, budget provision and authorisations to enable a implementation decision to be taken if and when it becomes clear that temporary relocation is necessary for the continued operation of the school and having regard to the content of a planning permission granted to Veolia for a RWTF on the site of the New Barnfield Centre.

Background information
1.         Reports by WYG dated April and May 2010 advising on potential air and noise impact of construction activities.
2.         Cabinet report of 20 July 2010.
3.         Cabinet report of 20 October 2008 on the relocations arising from New Barnfield being identified as a reference site for the residual waste facility PFI procurement.