Warwickshire County Council's Cabinet has recommended allocating over £20 million from the Council's Capital Investment Fund to deliver new school places over the next five years.
The additional funding will be targeted towards providing a further 2,000 places where need has been identified as well as making adaptations to buildings to enable children and young people with SEND to be educated at a mainstream setting in line with the principles behind the Delivering Better Values programme.
Warwickshire's school aged population has grown significantly in recent years, with a near 7% increase between 2011 and 2021. This growth has required substantial investment in education infrastructure. Over the past ten years, the council has delivered over 10,000 new permanent school places through numerous school expansions and the opening of 12 new schools.
Despite these concerted efforts, the continued rise in pupil numbers and the increasing cost of delivering new school places has created a funding gap. Traditional sources of funding, such as Basic Need Grants and developer contributions, have not kept pace with the rising costs.To address this gap, the council’s Cabinet has recommended allocating additional funding from the Capital Investment Fund.
Cllr Peter Butlin, Warwickshire County Council’s Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance and Property, said: “Warwickshire is an attractive place to live with excellent employment opportunities and, naturally, this has seen an increase in both development and in our population, notably of school-age children. This has put pressure on the education budget.
“Ensuring that every child in Warwickshire has access to high-quality education is a priority for the council. The financial prudence of this local authority over the long term has enabled us to fund this programme of work in a sustainable manner to ensure that all the county’s children will benefit.”
Full Council will consider the Cabinet's recommendation on 23 July 2024. If approved, further reports outlining specific projects and their addition to the education capital programme will be presented to Cabinet and Council throughout 2024 and 2025.
The council remains committed to sustainability in its school building projects. While net-zero construction is not currently feasible due to budget constraints, all new schools will be built to meet the latest Building Regulations, ensuring improved energy efficiency and lower carbon emissions.
The full Cabinet report can be found here: https://democracy.warwickshire.gov.uk/documents/s37615/Education%20Sufficiency%20Capital%20Funding%20Gap.pdf
More information about education In Warwickshire can be found here: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/education-learning