Decision details

To consider a report of the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services seeking approval to proceed with a formal change of use application to the Department for Education.

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). As the Council has determined that it intends to redevelop this site in the medium-term, this paper will seek Cabinet’s consent to make a formal change of use application to the DfE.

(i)  To delegate authority to the Director of Children’s Services and Learning to apply to the Department for Education for consent to dispose of the Oaklands site as no longer required for Educational purposes. Such an application would apply to all areas within the red line boundary, as marked on Appendix 1.

(ii)  To delegate authority to the Director of Children’s Services and Learning to notify the Department for Education of the disposal of the hard play and outdoor social areas at the Oaklands site, under a General Consent granted to the Council in accordance with Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Such an application would apply to the following areas marked on Appendix 2:

·  Play Ground 1 – 2,281m²

·  Play Ground 2 – 2,870m²

·  Social Area – 2,647m²

(iii)  Subject to obtaining consent from the Department for Education, to approve the transfer of 33,680m² of land at the Oaklands site from the Children’s Services portfolio to the Resources portfolio, the land to be transferred is shown in Appendix 3.

1.  Once the school has become surplus and before the school can be considered for alternative uses, consent is required from the DfE to remove the school from Education use.

2.  As the future development of the Oaklands site is to be a corporate decision and is unlikely to involve an educational use, it makes sense to transfer this land out of the Children’s Services portfolio and into the central Resources portfolio.

Retaining the school for education use has been considered, although there is no identified need in this respect, largely due to the fact that a new building has been developed for the Oasis Academy: Lord’s Hill, in close proximity to the Oaklands site.