Planning and Schools

Lord Pickles Excerpts

Friday 25th January 2013 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)]

The Government are committed to supporting the development of state-funded schools and their delivery through the planning system. As part of our reforms we want to ensure that the planning system supports our priority to ensure that every child has the opportunity to benefit from a good education. To make this a reality the Government are increasing choice and opportunity in state-funded education and raising educational standards. The planning system has an important role in ensuring this ambition becomes a reality.

The Government want to enable new schools to open, good schools to expand and all schools in the state-funded sector to adapt and improve their facilities. Creating free schools remains one of the Government’s flagship policies, enabling parents, teachers, charities and faith organisations to use their new freedoms to establish state-funded schools. This will make a real difference in their community by transforming children’s lives and helping them to reach their full potential.

It remains the Government’s view that the creation and development of state-funded schools is strongly in the national interest and that planning decision makers can and should support that objective, in a manner consistent with their statutory obligations. Experience to date has demonstrated that with the assistance of the Education Funding Agency new state-funded schools, and free schools in particular, have been successful in identifying sites that have gone on to secure planning permission.

It is vital that a new state-funded school can plan with confidence to be able to open at the start of the academic year. Where planning permission is sought it should be determined within the prescribed time frame. However, this expectation has not always been the case and schools have not been able to open on the sites intended.

In announcing the outcome of my October 2010 consultation, “Planning for schools development”, I committed to continue to explore whether there was further scope and need for the planning system to do more in the future to support state-funded schools. Therefore, I have decided to bring forward new permitted development rights for change of use to a new state-funded school. It is my intention to include within the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 (as amended):

A permitted development right to allow for the temporary change of use to a new state-funded school from any other use class along with minor associated physical development. This will be for a single year which would cover the first academic year. It will provide certainty that a school opening will not be delayed by an outstanding planning application, but will not replace the need to secure planning permission for the use beyond that first year.

A permitted development right to allow change of use to a new state-funded school from offices (B1); hotels (C1); residential institutions (C2); secure residential institutions (C2A); and assembly and leisure (D2). Any subsequent change from a new state-funded school to other uses in non-residential institution class (D1) will not be permitted. These changes will be subject to a prior approval process to mitigate any adverse transport and noise impacts.

I will be working with the Secretary of State for Education to ensure that those schools that become eligible to use these new rights are only those which have his support in their efforts to bring forward new state-funded schools. These changes are in addition to those announced in my written ministerial statement to the House on 24 January, Official Report, column 16WS, and will be introduced as soon as possible.