Agenda and minutes

This item was deferred until the next ordinary meeting of the Board.

(NB Councillor Swain declared a personal interest in the following item of business in respect of the update on the Academy due to being a governor of Halton High School.

Councillor Wharton declared a personal interest in the following item of business as his son attended Fairfield High School and his wife had a contract of employment there as an invigilator.)

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director – Children and Young People summarising the responses to the Statutory Consultation on the closure of Fairfield High School and the expansion of Wade Deacon High School, outlining the background, statutory consultation undertaken, financial implications and the decision making process.

In addition, a further report was tabled at the meeting. It was reported that this report had been considered in detail by the Cross Party Members Advisory Working Group on 15^th May 2008.  The report detailed the rationale for the proposal, identified who had been consulted, the response to the consultation and the issues raised, it provided a summary of previous consultations, transitional arrangements and the reasons, factors and criteria which needed consideration prior to a decision on the proposal.

It was reported that the Cross Party Members Advisory Group had been unanimous in their support for the closure of Fairfield High School due to declining pupil numbers and the expansion of Wade Deacon, which was a successful and popular school. The Group also supported the encouragement of both schools to collaborate quickly prior to the establishment of a hard federation.

The Board received a further update in respect of the overall position covering:

·    the Academy proposal and the position regarding potential sites, sponsors and the size of the post 16 provision being 200 planned pupil places;

·    the Grange, where the schools were currently consulting on the proposals to establish a hard federation;

·    The Bankfield;

·    The Heath;

·            Chestnut Lodge and Ashley Schools; and

·            meeting with Partnership for Schools in respect of the Council’s projected pupil numbers – it was advised that the Partnership was in agreement with the Council's pupil numbers and the methodology used.

The Statutory Consultation that had been undertaken, outlined in Appendix A to the tabled report, was described in detail to the Board. In particular, the Board noted that only thirteen of the responses received had disagreed with the proposal to close Fairfield High School.

Appendix C within this document outlined a summary of objections. Appendix D provided outlined the summary of responses to the proposal to expand Wade Deacon High School.  Appendix E and F detailed all the key issues raised in writing by the respondents to the consultation.  Members were provided with a summary of all the questions and detailed answers to each issue raised were considered by the Board.  This information was included in the separate report Appendix B and included information on school size, pupil projections, class size, traffic and safety, use of site, extended and community use, choice, culture, shared sports, admissions, funding, governing body, improvements, site assessment and communication.

In particular, it was noted that the Department for Children, Skills and Families (DCSF) and OFSTED Inspections of schools did not support the assertion that larger schools meant lower standards of behaviour. It was reported that there were benefits to having larger schools in terms of enhanced facilities and funding and that a model of smaller units or “schools within school”  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

The Board considered:

(1)            whether Members of the press and public should be excluded from the meeting of the Board during consideration of the following item of business in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be considered, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972; and

(2)            whether the disclosure of information was in the public interest, whether any relevant exemptions were applicable and whether, when applying the public interest test and exemptions, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed that in disclosing the information.

            RESOLVED: That as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, members of the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 because it is likely that, in view of the nature of the business, exempt information will be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director – Corporate and Policy outlining the current status of this potential development and seeking the Board’s view on the way forward.

RESOLVED: That

(1) the initial offer from Peel Holdings be  rejected; and

(2)       if any revised offer does not reflect the District Valuer's valuation, the site be remarketed.

MINUTES ISSUED: 23^rd May 2008

CALL IN: 2^nd June 2008

Any matter decided by the Executive Board may be called in no later than 2^nd June 2008