Secondary school site study to be looked at by council

Six sites are to be looked at as Arun District Council continues to identify a location for a new secondary school near Yapton.

In January, the council’s planning policy committee selected five sites from a list of 14. The five sites chosen were: site 14 on land south of Yapton; site 5 on land south of Yapton Road; site 4 on land north of Yapton Road and east of Blossom Way; site 3 on land at Maypole and North End Road and site 2 on Choller Farm, Barnham Lane.

These replaced the ‘preferred location’ site, north-east of Yapton and near the Ford Airfield development and know as Option F, which had been identified in 2019 but was later discounted.

But at its meeting on September 26, the committee reinstated Option F – though not as preferred location – following a recommendation from planning officers.

A report to the committee said negotiations between local education authorty West Sussex County Council and the landowers regarding the land’s value had ‘stalled’ – with officers saying they were not aware of any land deal on the site.

The committee approved a £30,000 site selection study for the six sites to determine a final preferred site for the new school, according the report

Freddie Tandy (Lab, Courtwick with Toddington) asked if the county council had reached out to any academies or trusts to gain a sponsor in eventually opening the new school, saying it would eventually need another body to open it once built.

Officers said it was ‘chicken and egg’, as developers and trusts would want to see ‘specifics’ before getting involved and identifying a site would be the ‘first step’ in providing those specifics with which to work.

They said the council had already contacted the owners of the five newer sites ahead of the study, and the owners of sites 14, 4 and 2 did not want their sites considered for the new school. They said there had been no response so far from the owners of sites 5 and 3.

Officers said this would not prevent the council from allocating one of the sites for a new school should they need to, but right now it did not have a ‘willing’ landowner to work with.

Steve Goodheart (Ind, Hotham) asked if the council would need to complete a compulsory purchase order to secure the preferred site once determined, which officers stated would be a ‘last resort’ if negotiations for the land did not lead to a successful outcome.

Arun council Leader Martin Lury (LDem, Bersted) said children in Arun were having to get a bus to Selsey in order to go to school, and that the district had a ‘real problem’.

He said: “We need to carry on and urge the secondary school site to be found in the locality, otherwise we’re doing a disservice to a lot of our local children.”

Elaine Stainton (Con, Felpham West) said the council was ‘promised’ a school and doctor’s surgery on a site six years ago, neither of which happened, and the council should ‘beware’ the same outcome.

The report to committee said 2022 data showed the capacity of Arun’s secondary schools reaching 95 per cent by 2023/24, due to the number of pupils moving up from primary school.

It also says the new school would aim to be a ten-form entry secondary school, with room for four-form expansion and a sixth-form provision.