Decision details

The Cabinet will be asked to approve proposals relating to Riverside Secondary School, which will include the securing of both temporary and permanent school sites and the commissioning of the Local Education Partnership to undertake technical and building works

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services presented a report on proposals associated with the establishment of temporary and permanent sites for the Riverside Secondary School, which currently shares premises with George Carey Church of England Primary School.

The Cabinet Member explained that Riverside Secondary School required new premises from September 2013 but that construction works on the intended permanent site at the District Centre of Barking Riverside could not commence until August 2013, meaning that the new school buildings would be unlikely to be ready for use until September 2015.  The former City Farm site in Thames Road had been identified as a suitable site for the temporary school and an assessment of demand for school places in the area had suggested that it would be prudent to build a primary school for temporary use by Riverside Secondary School.

The proposers of the Riverside Secondary School, the Barking and Dagenham Learning Partnership, have indicated that they would wish the Council to manage the building project and the Cabinet Member referred to the contractual and financial arrangements that were associated with the overall project.

Cabinet agreed:

(i)  The allocation earmarked in the Capital Programme of £3m for temporary accommodation for the Riverside Secondary School be used to construct primary school facilities at the former City Farm site, to be used temporarily (until the completion of the permanent site) by the Riverside Secondary School;

(ii)  A virement of the capital sum of £1.4m from the project originally intended to support basic need in Dagenham Village to the proposed primary school on the City Farm site;

(iii)  To include the capital sum of £25.09m (inclusive of ICT and fixtures and fittings) allocated by the Education Funding Agency for the construction of permanent school facilities for the Riverside School in the Council’s Capital Programme, subject to a formal agreements between the Education Funding Agency and Proposer and the Proposer and the Council;

(iv)  To commission the Thames Partnership for Learning Limited (the Council’s Local Education Partnership (LEP)) to undertake preliminary technical work on the Temporary Site for the Riverside School and, subject to the Chief Financial Officer confirming pricing and value for money tests, to carry out the work;

(v)  To commission, subject to (iii) above, the Local Education Partnership (LEP) to carry out the technical work for the Permanent Site and, subject to the Chief Financial Officer confirming pricing and value for money tests, to carry out the work;

(vi)  The freehold transfer of the City Farm site from Barking Riverside Limited to the Council on the terms set out in the report;

(vii)  The leasehold transfer of the District Centre site via a 999 year lease from Barking Riverside Limited to the Council on the terms set out in the report;

(viii)  To authorise the Corporate Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, to agree all necessary legal agreements to achieve the freehold transfer of the City Farm site, proposed leasing arrangements for the City Farm and District Centre sites and suite of construction documents required by Education Funding Agency, including the Development Agreements and Design and Build contract;

(ix)  The conversion of the temporary school site at City Farm to a permanent primary school site following construction of the permanent school at the District Centre site; and

(x)  Authorised the Corporate Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and the Cabinet Members for Children’s Services, Finance and Regeneration, to procure and award the project contracts in respect of the construction of the new schools at the City Farm and District Centre sites, on the terms set out in the report.