Residents have contacted Heatons Councillors and the Council about the current situation at Didsbury Road Primary School.
The current estimate of condition works needed over the next year to 7+ years at Didsbury Road Primary School is approximately £3million, of which £1.3million of works are considered essential. The Council’s current policy would provide 80% of the funding towards the essential works only, subject to confirmation of future funding streams.
The Council has an established policy which supports schools with the essential elements of school repairs. Works beyond this are delegated to the school although there may be some structural elements not yet costed and the Council will seek to support these when the surveys are completed. Schools have rolling programmes to replace old windows, replace defective doors with doors which are DDA compliant and renew flooring where necessary. This Council policy requires schools to contribute 20% to fabric (repairs), and applies to every maintained school in the borough. The Schools Capacity, Admissions and Places (SCAP) advisory have recently considered a sliding scale of school contributions between 20% and 10% which could reduce the costs to schools in future. Any change to policy will need to be fair and equitable across the borough.
The Council prioritises roofing, mechanical and engineering (heating) and electrical works for schools and has not contributed to walls, interior doors, floors, windows or toilet renovations for many decades. There may also be structural issues as the mortar is failing between the bricks of the external walls and this is yet to be fully identified and costed. Schools are not required to contribute to projects which provide only additional places. The Council’s approach to funding capital schemes which form part of the Capital Programme (i.e. schemes that have been approved by Members) is to determine the most cost-effective mix of funding. This would consider different funding options such as available capital grants, borrowing, external contributions etc. In determining the feasibility of a capital scheme, the cost of any borrowing required (for the Council and School) would be considered.
The Local Authority provides the opportunity for schools to borrow funding via the Prudential Borrowing Loan route thus enabling the leadership to undertake a significant capital investment in the school and finance the cost over an agreed period. The length of the loan repayments must not exceed the lifespan of the asset purchased/enhanced.
The current estimate of providing an additional 30 places per school year in another school (210 in total) is approximately £2.5m. There are many variables to be considered and the figures provided are purely indicative. The true cost of a rebuild, including Didsbury Road Primary School, would only be known after a competitive tendering process. However, to renovate the front Admin block, replace the ageing classrooms and toilets, including temporary classrooms of Didsbury Road Primary School, is estimated at a minimum of £6.5million.
In response to the questions, (a) what would be required to follow if seeking the school be no longer designated a Stockport Council “locally listed building”, and any associated timescales for Council decision making; and, (b) what process would be required to follow if seeking the school site to be no longer within the boundaries of the Stockport Council designated Heaton Mersey conservation area and any associated timescales for Council decision making? We are seeking further advice on this matter from Officers within the Place Directorate.
The timescale for decision making on the next tranche(s) of capital funding is not fixed but papers from the Schools Commissioning team to Senior Management Team meetings (SMT), who are the commissioning body for capital works, are expected in the Autumn.
There is not and nor could the Council make a commitment to rebuild Didsbury Road Primary School within any timeframe. In the immediate future, the financial outlook for the Council is one of further reductions to an already low baseline of funding. The timeline for the essential repairs would require consideration alongside other priority projects across the schools estate and detailed conversations with the school to ensure there is continuity of provision. Maintaining school provision is clearly a key priority. Significant works bring challenges for the leadership of the school but other schools have managed this very successfully. A recent large scale development resulted in no learning days being lost.
Additional school places at Primary, Secondary and Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) level in both the Heatons and the rest of the borough are also dependent upon sufficient capital funding being available. The Council is reliant on central government for the overwhelming amount of funding for major repairs, new building and additional school places, and currently government funding of Stockport’s school buildings programme is at the lowest level for many years. However, the Council is looking at ways that additional places can be funded.
We are strongly committed to education in Stockport. Outcomes in Stockport schools are excellent and our results demonstrate this. We fully understand the concerns of the school and are working closely with them to bring about a solution. This needs to be put in the context of a national funding crisis in Schools to the tune of £6.7billion. In Stockport, we have seen £42million in government cuts to our schools budget since 2010.
Furthermore, Council Officers have mounted numerous bids for schools in Stockport to be rebuilt under various government schemes. Didsbury Road Primary School was unsuccessful in both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Department for Education (Education Funding Agency) Priority Schools Building Programme (Appendix 1, below). The Council was not able to prioritise the list of schools and was subsequently informed about the successful, and therefore unsuccessful, applicants. The DfE (ESFA) are in the process of a fresh national condition survey at present, unfortunately the government has not indicated the Priority Schools Phase 3.
Stockport remains one of the lowest funded local authority areas in the country when it comes to school funding. While we lobby the government for a change of policy on this, we are working closely with all our schools to develop a local plan which can ensure the resources we do have provide the best possible learning environment for Stockport’s children.
Appendix 1 – Stockport schools where funding was applied for:
PSBP 1 Applications (2012)
Abingdon Primary – Successful
Bridge Hall Primary – Successful
St John’s CE Primary School – Successful
St Mary’s RC Primary School – Successful (but school and diocese withdrew St. Mary’s)
Werneth School – Successful
Cheadle Hulme High School – Unsuccessful
Didsbury Road Primary School – Unsuccessful
St Anne’s RC High School – Unsuccessful
PSBP2 Applications (2015)
Cheadle Primary School – Successful
Great Moor Junior School – Successful
Hazel Grove Primary School – Successful
Banks Lane Junior School – Unsuccessful
Bramhall High School – Unsuccessful
Cheadle Hulme High School – Unsuccessful
Didsbury Road Primary School – Unsuccessful
Greave Primary School – Unsuccessful
Marple Hall School – Unsuccessful
Meadowbank Primary School – Unsuccessful
Nevill Road Junior School – Unsuccessful
Priestnall School – Unsuccessful
St George’s CE Primary School – Unsuccessful
Stockport School – Unsuccessful
The Kingsway School – Unsuccessful
Thorn Grove Primary School – Unsuccessful
Vernon Park Primary School – Unsuccessful
Targeted Basic Need Applications
Arden Primary School – Successful
Cale Green Primary School – Successful
Castle Hill School – Successful
Greave Primary School – Successful
Queens Road Primary School – Successful
St Elisabeth’s Primary School – Successful
Echelles Primary School – Unsuccessful