New Primary School West Of Rayleigh…..

The minutes of the last full council are available on the District Council website . You can find them here.

Chris Black asked a couple of questions and the answers are below:

There are two main things to come out of these questions. First of all, the District Council is willing to protect new open spaces by passing them onto Fields in Trust (the new name for the National Playing Field Association). But we still need to keep a careful eye on this.
The second point is that a new primary school will be needed on the West Rayleigh / Rawreth border.Again we are going to have to keep an eye on this to make certain it is ready at the right time.

(a) Of the Leader of the Council:-
?Policy CLT5 of our Core Strategy begins:-
?New public open space will be required to accompany additional residential development, having regard to local current and projected future need. Standard Charges may be applied to developments as necessary. In particular the Council will seek the incorporation of a significant amount of public open space to accompany new, and be integrated with existing, residential development in the west of Rayleigh…..?
The creation of Sweyne Park was one of the major successes of the District Council in the last 30 years, and the future of the park has been safeguarded by placing it in the ownership of the National Playing Field Association. (Now known as ?Fields In Trust?)
Does the Council plan to protect new open spaces created under CLT5 in the same way as with Sweyne Park, and transfer the ownership of them as quickly as possible to Fields In Trust, whilst continuing to manage them ourselves??

The Leader, Cllr T G Cutmore, responded as follows:-
?I agree with the general presumption outlined in the question and at this point in time cannot see any reason to change a policy which, as Cllr Black states, has been successfully applied over a number of years. However, there may be other opportunities available at the time to look at other organisational trust arrangements and /or work with the Parishes/Town Council/local residents on such arrangements which guarantee that public open spaces remain as such in perpetuity.?

By way of supplementary question Cllr C I Black asked if any discussion had taken place with Fields In Trust in relation to new spaces created under CLT5 to move them away from ownership by developers.
The Leader confirmed that he saw no reason for any new public open spaces created to remain with developers, as indicated in the response to the original question.

(b) Of the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transportation:-
?It is very likely that the planned development in West Rayleigh will result in the need to either enlarge St Nicholas School (which has been specifically designed for future expansion) or to build a completely new primary school.
How do we ensure that this new facility is available when the new houses are first occupied??

The Portfolio Holder, Cllr K H Hudson, responded as follows:-
?The Core Strategy appendix H1 sets out details of new infrastructure and services to accompany residential development. Following consultation with the schools service, it was confirmed the proposed housing development in West Rayleigh would generate the requirement for a new primary school.
The schools service will be closely involved in the provision of facilities for new school places and, in particular, the phased provision of those to relate to the construction of the new homes. It is understood that the aim is to ensure that school places are available as homes are occupied rather than seeing all new places being immediately available when it may be some years before those places are required.
In order to provide as full an answer as possible to Cllr Black?s question the schools service has been contacted and they have responded as follows ?it would not be possible to open it [a new school] prior to the housing development being occupied. There are the practical issues of servicing and access to the [agreed school] site and then the need to consider when there would be critical mass to make a new school viable.?

By way of supplementary question Cllr C I Black asked if the Portfolio Holder recognised the need to be alert to potential problems that could arise with this subject.
The Portfolio Holder confirmed the need to always be alert.

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