Agenda item

Report of the Director of Partnerships and Performance

Note: In accordance with the Constitution, Councillor N Akhtar, Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee, has been invited to attend the meeting for this item of business (both the public and the private reports – agenda items 5 and 8) to agree the need for urgency such that call-in arrangements will not apply.

The reason for urgency is that the tender process has taken place, and the costs are held until 24th May at which point the validity period has passed. If a decision is not made by this date the costs are subject to review and are likely to increase. The construction programme cannot be confirmed until the award of contract, this means the delivery of the new facility will be delayed, impacting the school pupils and could impact the LA reputationally. The academy trust has set out the conversion cannot take place until the works contract is signed. This means any delays to appointing the contractor will impact the academisation process. The school is subject to an academy order and the DfE are applying pressure to both LA and Academy Trust to move this process forward.

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Partnerships and Performance on a budget increase associated with the Woodfield Schools relocation to the Woodlands School Site.

A corresponding private report detailing confidential financial matters was also submitted for consideration (Minute 113 below referred).

In accordance with the Constitution, Councillor N Akhtar, Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee, had been invited to attend this meeting of Cabinet for this item of business (both the public and the private reports) to agree the need for urgency such that call-in arrangements will not apply. The reason for urgency was that the tender process had taken place, and the costs were held until 24th May at which point the validity period had passed. If a decision was not made by this date, the costs were subject to review and were likely to increase. The construction programme could not be confirmed until the award of contract, this meant the delivery of the new facility would be delayed, impacting the school pupils and could impact the Local Authority reputationally. The academy trust had set out the conversion could not take place until the works contract was signed. This meant any delays to appointing the contractor would impact the academisation process. The school was subject to an Academy Order and the DfE were applying pressure to both the Local Authority and the Academy Trust to move this process forward.

Under Section 14 of the Education Act 1996, Coventry City Council had a statutory duty to ensure sufficient school places and fair, appropriate access to education for all. It was the Council’s role to plan, commission and organise school places in a way that raised standards, managed supply and demand and created a diverse infrastructure.

On 18th October 2021, Council approved in principle the refurbishing of the existing Woodlands School site to provide a new home for the existing Woodfield Primary and Secondary Schools which would facilitate the subsequent relocation of the Woodfield Schools to the Woodlands site. This report approved the award of contract subject to it being within the approved amount capital refurbishment budget. It was also noted in the report that where the cost of delivering the project exceeded the approved budget limit, a further report to address the shortfall gap would be presented to Cabinet and/or Council for approval prior to award of the contract to the successful building contractor.

Officers had continued to monitor the financial position and on receipt of further funding for SEND capital, the One Strategic Plan report presented to Cabinet on 10th January 2023 which allocated further resource to the project.

The Council had commenced a comprehensive tendering process to appoint the building contractor which had identified a shortfall gap for the main works. This report therefore provided an update and included a request to approve additional resource to enable the award of contract for the main works.

The shortfall gap was due to inflation, complexities of the design and refurbishment of the listed building, additional costs incurred (e.g. for more invasive surveys), and the increased timescales associated with the complex planning requirements around the three sites (Woodfield Primary, Woodfield Secondary, and Woodlands). As a consequence, the cost of the capital refurbishment works had increased to the sum identified in the private element of this report, requiring additional resource in order to award the main construction contract. The total project cost was anticipated to be the sum set out in the private element of this report, which included the project contingency and additional project fees. This was funded by existing education funding and corporate receipts. A detailed breakdown of the costs was included within the finance section of the private element of this report.

The Council had received an additional High Needs Capital funding in March 2024. This funding would be allocated as part of the annual One Strategic Plan report.

It should also be noted that Woodfield Special School was currently in the process of academy conversion, with the conversion being dependent upon significant progress being made on this project. The academy conversion was the subject of a separate Cabinet report in October 2021.

Councillor Akhtar agreed the need for urgency and therefore the decisions in relation to this matter are not subject to call in. 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1)  Approves a further sum as identified in the private element of this report for the delivery of the capital refurbishment works to enable the award of the main construction contract which will be financed from within existing Education capital resources.

2)  Delegates authority to the Director of Finance and Resources, following consultation with the Director of Partnerships and Performance (or in his/her absence the Chief Executive), the Director of Law and Governance and the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, to undertake the necessary due diligence including approving any incidental and ancillary actions required to bring into legal effect the recommendation set out in Recommendation 1) above.