Medway Developer Contributions and Obligations Guide

10 Education

10.1 Background

10.1.1 Medway Council has a statutory duty to provide sufficient school places. Central government provides basic need funding to help provide extra places due to demographic growth, but this does not cover pupils from new housing. Therefore, developers need to contribute towards the additional extra places required due to new housing. Comment

10.1.2 Department for Education guidance states that basic need allocations do not factor in the cost of land acquisition, so it is particularly important that any land required within larger development sites for schools is provided at no cost to the local authority wherever possible. Comment

10.1.3 Only dwellings which are suitable for family occupation will be included for the purposes of an education request. Family dwellings are defined as dwellings with two or more bedrooms. Comment

10.1.4 When assessing a contribution, the council will compare the expected number of pupils from a development, and the forecasted number of places available in nearby schools. Contributions will be requested in proportion to any forecasted shortfall in places. Comment

10.1.5 The council will also consider the wider picture, looking at the developments in an area as a whole rather than in isolation. This is to ensure a co-ordinated solution to school places. For example, 776 houses would generate 210 pupils and raise the need for a 1FE primary school. These 776 homes could be at a single site, or spread across multiple developments. Comment

10.1.6 The National Planning Policy Framework states that planning policies should minimise journey lengths for education, and where practical, primary schools should be within walking distance of developments. Medway Council defines nearby schools as within walking distance (2 miles for primary and 3 miles for secondary). Comment

10.1.7 A 5% surplus capacity is maintained to ensure that if more pupils move into the area than forecast, there will be places available. 5% is a nationally accepted surplus. Comment

10.1.8 Funding from developer contributions will be utilised for providing early years, primary, secondary, 6th form, and special provision. Comment

10.2 Charges

10.2.1 The charge per dwelling for an expansion at an existing school is: Comment

Table 4: Comment

10.2.2 When a new school is required to accommodate demand the following charges would apply per dwelling: Comment

Table 5: Comment

10.2.3 The Education service requests contributions on a pupil yield basis. At the point of agreeing the S106 agreement, this is converted into a charge per dwelling. The pupil product per dwelling is: Comment

Table 6: Comment

10.2.4 In some cases, the council will accept alternatives to a financial contribution. This is at the sole discretion of the council, and would generally be on large developments. Where developments are over 776 dwellings, there is an opportunity to discuss with the local authority how best to deliver a new school. The specification of the facilities would be determined by the council, and would include all furniture, fixtures, and information technology equipment, as necessary. For example, in lieu of a financial contribution a developer could provide their own nursery provision, or for larger developments with significant number of pupils, a new school. Comment

10.3 Policy/Evidence Base

Pupil Product Ratios – MORI study 2005/06 Comment

School Place Planning Strategy and annual reviews Comment

DfE guidance: Securing developer contributions for education Comment

Charge per pupil – DfE Local authority school places scorecards Comment