Council and democracy

Councillor Halden introduced the report and stated that it would increase the amount invested in education by almost £7 million, and would facilitate the expansion at St Clere’s school and the Orsett Free School. He stated that the council were working with the Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to deliver difficult projects such as Thames Park School and Orsett Heath School, and whilst these projects were being finalised, this report would ensure there were enough school places for every child. He described how temporary accommodation at the Orsett Heath site would mean permanent buildings that would complement the school in the long term, for example expand the sporting element of Orsett Heath and their relationship with Thurrock Rugby Club. He added that £500,000 was being invested in a 3G pitch at Harris Riverside, and in rebuilding the nursery at Corringham Primary School. He added there were also plans to expand Benyon Primary in South Ockendon, to alleviate placement issues, rather than building a new school on the site at Brandon Groves. Councillor Halden felt that as all these projects were being undertaken at the same time, it was an impressive list of options. He added that in addition 90% of all schools had now received a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ rating by Ofsted, and the borough had seen an improvement in GCSE results, even with the difficulty in changes to GCSE marking and criteria.

Councillor Hebb continued that injecting money into schools, was injecting money into the future of the borough. He added that this report covered the entire borough such as Stanford, Orsett and South Ockendon; was multi-use as contained provisions for sporting facilities; and was multi-choice as parents now had a diverse market and could decide which school best suited them and their child’s needs. He directed Members to point 3.2.2 of Appendix 1 in the report, which stated that infrastructure was coming first in the St Clere’s project, as additional capacity was being placed on-site, rather than off-site. He felt that schools now were vastly improved from that of those 20 years ago, although the problem of pupil deficit still existed as those coming from primary to secondary school needed places, and capacity would have to expand.

The Leader was glad to see money being spent on the future, but without problems such as temporary demountables. He felt glad to see that Benyon Primary was expanding, rather than a brand new school at Brandon Groves, as this would have caused traffic problems in the area.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:

1. Approved the extended School Capital programme budget of £6,900,000 for St Clere’s and bulge classes for the new Orsett Heath Free School.  

2. Approved the invitation of tenders in accordance with EU procurement procedures for a one year agreement for providing a Specialist Project Team, and Principal Contractor for a school capital programme.

3. That, following a selection procedure compliant with EU procurement regulations, the subsequent decision to enter into the contract be delegated to the Accountable Director reporting back to the Portfolio Holder, such report to detail the selection procedure results, and compliance with EU procurement regulations.

4. Endorsed the forward work and feasibility studies coming forward for the expansions and/or improvement works at Corringham Primary, Harris Riverside and Benyon Primary, and the works to continue to deliver inclusion units across Thurrock and their associated costs.