Issue - meetings

To consider the joint report of the Director of City Development and the Director of Children’s Services presenting information and background to the use, and potential disposal of the site previously used for Fir Tree Primary School, Alwoodley.

Further to Minute No. 30, 16^th July 2014, the Director of City Development and the Director of Children’s Services submitted a joint report presenting information and background to the use, and potential disposal of the site previously used for Fir Tree Primary School, Alwoodley. The report provided details of the options open to the Council in respect of this matter.

It was noted that at the commencement of the meeting, Board Members had been provided with correspondence received from Education Funding Agency (EFA) in respect of the submitted report. 

In discussing the matter, Members considered a range of issues, including:-

·  The recent correspondence which had been received from the EFA and the extent to which it provided any further clarity on the current position;

·  The clarification which was still required on whether the Government’s legal powers would enable a ‘scheme’ to be served upon the Council which compelled it to transfer the freehold of the site to the Khalsa Education Trust, and the need for further dialogue to be held between the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) legal representatives and the Council,

·  The level of contact and discussion which had taken place between the Council and the DfE on this issue to date, the nature of such contact and the associated timeframe in which this had taken place;

·  The need to ensure that in order to progress this matter, a collaborative approach was adopted by all relevant parties; 

·  With regard to education provision in the area, the extent to which this specific site would best meet the needs of the local community.

At the conclusion of the discussion on the submitted report, it was formally moved by Councillor A Carter and seconded by Councillor Golton that the former Fir Tree Primary School site be transferred on a leasehold basis to the Khalsa Education Trust. On being put to the vote, this motion was lost, and it was

RESOLVED – That further information and clarification be sought from the Department for Education in respect of those matters considered during the meeting, specifically as to whether the Government’s legal powers enabled a ‘scheme’ to be served on the Council which would compel it to transfer the freehold of the site in question to the Khalsa Education Trust.

(Under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 16.5, both Councillor A Carter and Councillor Golton required it to be recorded that they respectively voted against the matters included within this minute)