Decision details

To consider a report of the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Learning seeking approval for leasing arrangements for the pre-school.

Under the terms of the existing Short Term Lease, the Oasis Academy: Lord’s Hill will vacate the Oaklands site upon completion of its new buildings (currently scheduled for September 2012). Whilst the Council is exploring options in relation to this site’s long-term use, there is a need to put measures in place to ensure that the onsite pre-school is adequately housed in the short-term. In this respect, it is proposed that the pre-school facilities should be let to the existing provider (Oasis Community Learning) on a rolling programme, at nil rent, in order that this provision can be sustained in its current location.

The current paper will seek Cabinet’s approval for the above-outlined course of action and the necessary delegated authorities to undertake the letting process.

(i)  Subject to obtaining consent from the Secretary of State to dispose of the relevant area (as identified in Appendix 1), to delegate authority to the Executive Director of Children’s Services and  Learning, following consultation with the Heads of Legal, HR and Democratic Services, Property and Procurement and Finance, and the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Learning, to approve the details and completion of the letting of the pre-school facilities on the Oaklands site to Oasis Community Learning at the appropriate time, following the vacation of the former Oaklands Community School site by Oasis Community Learning.  A 2-year lease will be offered, which will be reviewable after 1 year.

1. Under the terms of the existing Short Term Lease, the Oasis Academy: Lord’s Hill will vacate the Oaklands site upon completion of its new buildings (currently scheduled for September 2012). This will serve as a trigger for the Short Term Lease being terminated and, as such, for the Oaklands site being handed back over to the Authority. On this basis, it is now necessary to put in place arrangement for the operation of the onsite pre-school (who would otherwise be left without rights to occupy their element of the building from September 2012). Although the Council is exploring options in relation to the long-term use of the Oaklands site, the arrangements for this facility to operate in the short-term are yet to be established.
2. This report, therefore, seeks to secure agreement for a short term lease solution relating to the facilities in question, with a view to having this in place in time for the handover of the site in September 2012.

As there is currently a pressure on early years places throughout the city, it has been determined that the pre-school provision currently located at the Oaklands site should be maintained. The option of disbanding this provision has thus been discounted. As maintaining this pre-school in its current location represents the most cost-effective option available (as this space would otherwise be vacant) and even serves to offset some of the maintenance liabilities that would otherwise fall to SCC; it has been determined that the offer of a lease to the pre-school in their current location represents the most practical means of maintaining provision in a sustainable fashion (as opposed to relocating them elsewhere).