Free Schools

(asked on 9th March 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether people in local communities have the right to object to plans for the establishment of a free school in their area.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 14th March 2018

Academy trusts proposing to set up a free school have a statutory duty under the Academies Act 2010 to consult on whether to enter into a funding agreement with the Secretary of State to establish a free school. The Act states that trusts should consult “such persons as the trust thinks appropriate”, which should include nearby schools, the local authority, any surrounding local authorities, groups with an interest, the local population, and faith groups. The Secretary of State is also required to complete an assessment of the impact the opening of the school would have on schools in the area, before entering into a funding agreement with the trust.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency works with its contractors and consultants to engage with the local community prior to the submission of a formal planning application, and there is a statutory duty on the local authority, as prescribed in the 2015 Development Management Procedure Order, to consult local communities prior to determination of the application.

The statutory right to challenge the purchase of community assets and other community land for the location of free schools is a local authority matter. If a building or land is registered as an asset of community value, there is a statutory process, under the Localism Act 2011, that a seller of that asset must follow in order to dispose of the land and local authorities would be responsible for taking this forward.

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