Council urges Government to let it get started on Rotherhithe school places

In November, the Government wrote to Southwark Council, informing it that Government funding for the proposed new school was not available. 

But last week the council received further information from the Department for Education suggesting the government had still allocated the full £19.6m to the Rotherhithe school project.

The latest Government confusion follows the announcement by Michael Gove last July that all of Southwark's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects were 'unaffected' by sweeping cuts to the BSF programme nationally.

The council has always maintained that there is a specific need for additional places in Rotherhithe, and remains committed to the delivery of a new school.

Despite the Government's November rejection of Southwark Council's case for a new five-form of entry secondary school in Rotherhithe, it said it would support funding for an additional two forms of entry of places; 60 places per year group, to meet local demand. But so far the government has not confirmed how much funding the council will get, and when the funding will be provided.

Catherine McDonald, cabinet member for children's services, said: 

"Anyone who questions our commitment to additional places and plans for a new school is very much mistaken. The simple fact is that we can't take forward any plans for a new school if we don't know how much money might be available and when it would be available. In November, we were told by the Government it was withdrawing the full £19.6m, but it now seems that it might be available after all.  

"We need to know how much funding we are guaranteed so that we can tell parents and young people of our plans and start creating the much needed new places. We urge the Government to stop the uncertainty and waste of administrative time, they appear not to know what they're doing."

Notes

 1.  The text of the letter sent by the DfE to the council in November 2010, confirming that the £19.6m funding had been withdrawn, is as follows.

"Based on Pupil Place Planning data submitted by the Authority in June 2010 it is not considered that a case can be made for the delivery of a new 5 form entry secondary school in Rotherhithe at this time.  As such the £19.6m funding provisionally allocated to this project through the Stage 0 approval process in April 2010 will no longer be available to the Authority to deliver that proposal.

"The Department considers that there is the need to establish two forms of entry of additional secondary school places in the Rotherhithe area in the next five years. As such the Department will work alongside Southwark and Partnership for Schools to identify an alternative proposal for the delivery of these places.

"It is the Department's expectation that a proposal for the delivery of these additional places and an associated funding allocation can be agreed as part of the BSF process" 

2. The Council had a solid case with the community needs at the heart of our plan for a new school, based on local needs in Rotherhithe. But this case was not accepted by the government, which looked at availability of places across the borough rather than specifically in Rotherhithe, and the government withdrew the funding allocation in November 2010.