Agenda and minutes

Several Members of the Scrutiny Panel, and other Councillors who were attending this meeting to support the call-in of the decisions listed below, referred to their membership of primary school and secondary school governing bodies, both in the Maltby and Wickersley area and in other areas of the Rotherham Borough.

It was confirmed that any interests these Councillors may have were personal interests only and would not therefore prevent their participation in the items included on the agenda for this Scrutiny Panel meeting.

Only one Councillor in attendance, Councillor Rushforth, was a member of the School Governing Body of the Maltby Community (secondary) School and, having declared that personal interest, Councillor Rushforth did not participate in the debate at this meeting.

Councillor S. Wright, as Cabinet Member, declared his prejudicial interests in the subjects of Minutes Nos. 129 and 130 (below) and left the meeting at the conclusion of his explanation of those decisions and prior to the Scrutiny Panel’s deliberation and decisions on both of those matters.

There no questions from members of the press or the public.

For the information and guidance of Members of this Scrutiny Panel, a copy of the call-in procedure note was included with the agenda for this meeting.

To consider the call in of Minute No. 145 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services held on Wednesday, 25^th March, 2009, which reads:-

Further to Minute No. 111 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services held on 7^th January, 2009, consideration was given to a report presented by the Director of Resources and Access stating that the statutory notice period on the proposal to close the Maltby Community School, and to re-open the school as the Maltby Academy (with effect from 1^st September 2009) had concluded on Friday 20^th March, 2009.  The submitted report considered the determination to be made by the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, following advice from the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Included within the report were the objections to the proposal to develop an Academy at Maltby. Discussion took place on the detail of the comments, objections and expressions of support received by the Council in respect of the proposed Academy.

The Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services placed on record their thanks to staff for the work and wide consultation undertaken in respect of the Building Schools for the Future and Academy proposals.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That the following proposals be approved, with the modified dates of implementation shown:-

(a) in accordance with Section 15(1) of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, to discontinue Maltby Community School – Specialising in Business and Enterprise on 3^rd January, 2010 (modified from 31^st August, 2009); and

(b) to establish an 11-18 Academy on 4^th January, 2010 (modified from 1^st September, 2009) in the existing school buildings; in September, 2009, the admission number will remain at 290 with a new admission number of 200 from September, 2010; there will be a 200 place sixth form; the new Academy building would open in September 2013, following its construction within the Building Schools for the Future Project.

The Mayor welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave a brief explanation of the Scrutiny procedure (contained in the Borough Council’s Constitution) for the call-in of Executive decisions. The matters within the agenda for today’s meeting had been referred to the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel, instead of the Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee, because they related to education issues.

At the beginning of the proceedings, Councillor Thirlwall questioned the procedure and order of speaking. He stated that there did not appear to be a definitive order of procedure for a Scrutiny Panel’s consideration of a call in request. In the absence of such a procedure, Councillor Thirlwall therefore requested that the Cabinet Member should speak first, to explain the reasons for making the decision the subject of this call in request, with himself (Councillor Thirlwall) and the other Councillors supporting the call in request, being allowed to speak later and to ask questions of the Cabinet Member. Councillor Thirlwall explained that he was merely seeking to correct a procedural matter (order of speaking) which he considered to be incorrect and to remove an apparent unfairness in the call in procedure which placed those Members who submit the call in request at a disadvantage. He later referred again to feeling at a disadvantage because he was not provided with Officer support to make the call in request and research relevant material and documents, whereas by comparison the Executive Cabinet Member was able to receive considerable support from the most senior officials of the Borough Council.

After consideration of Councillor Thirlwall’s views about the order of Members speaking, The Mayor determined that this Scrutiny Panel meeting shall proceed with the Councillors making the call in request first explaining the reasons why they have decided to call in this decision; later in the meeting, after hearing those reasons, the Cabinet Member would be required to respond to the call in request, answer questions from the Scrutiny Panel and explain the decision made.

The Scrutiny Panel considered Minute No. 145 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services held on Wednesday, 25^th March, 2009 concerning the proposal to close the Maltby Community (secondary) School and to replace it by opening a new Academy on the School site.

The report considered by the Cabinet Member, in respect of Minute No. 145, was included on the agenda for this Scrutiny Panel meeting.

(i) Councillor Thirlwall, supported by Councillors Cutts, Gilding, Mannion, Parker, Slade (not present) and Turner, explained the reasons for calling-in this decision of the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services:-

-     Councillor Thirlwall expressed disappointment that other Ward Councillors for Maltby had not supported this call in request;

-     surprised at having to call in this matter as he understood that the Borough Council (and majority party) policy was not to be in favour of the development of an Academy;

-     further surprise that the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel itself  ...  view the full minutes text for item 129.

To consider the call in of Minute No. 146 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services held on Wednesday, 25^th March, 2009, which reads:-

Further to Minute No. 111 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services held on 7^th January, 2009, consideration was given to a report presented by the Director of Resources and Access stating that the statutory notice period on the proposal to amalgamate the Maltby Hall Infant and the Lilly Hall (Maltby) Junior School had concluded on 20^th March, 2009. The submitted report considered the determination to be made by the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, following advice from the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That the following proposals be approved:-

(a) in accordance with Section 15(1) of the Education and Inspection Act 2006, to discontinue Lilly Hall (Maltby) Junior School on 31^st August, 2013; and

(b) in accordance with Section 19(1) of the Education and Inspection Act, to make prescribed alterations to Maltby Hall Infant School from 1^st September, 2013; this alteration is the expansion and the change of age range from its existing 3-7 years to 3-11 years; the admission number would be 60.

The Mayor, when introducing this item, gave a further brief explanation of the Scrutiny procedure for the call-in of a decision made by the Borough Council’s Executive.

The Scrutiny Panel considered Minute No. 146 of the meeting of the Cabinet Member and Advisers for Children and Young People’s Services held on Wednesday, 25^th March, 2009 concerning the proposal to amalgamate Maltby HallInfant School and Lilly Hall, Maltby, Junior School.

The report considered by the Cabinet Member, in respect of Minute No. 146, was included on the agenda for this Scrutiny Panel meeting.

Councillor Thirlwall, supported by Councillors Cutts, Gilding, Mannion, Parker, Slade (not present) and Turner, explained the reasons for calling-in this decision of the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services:-

(i) the Borough Council had not undertaken a sufficient amount of consultation, about this proposal, with the local community around these two Schools and in the wider township of Maltby; as with the Academy proposal (above), a particular fault lay in the fact that a detailed site plan of the proposals had not been available for local people to inspect; however, the Borough Council had already sent a site plan as part of the submission of this proposal to the Government Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF);

(ii) the research undertaken by Councillor Thirlwall and other supporters of this call-in indicated that local residents were concerned about the impact of the scale of this local development upon the community, especially issues such as vehicle parking being likely to cause traffic congestion in the roads near the School site, with a detrimental impact upon the safety of all road users;

(iii) there are objections to the proposed co-location of a Special School with the amalgamated Primary School;

(iv) there are concerns about the impact of the development of the amalgamated Primary School upon the local environment; currently, the two Primary Schools are separated by substantial woodlands and these concerns are that part of this woodland would be removed or destroyed during construction of the new School buildings.

The other Councillors supporting the call-in of this decision declined the invitation from The Mayor to add further comment to the above reasons for calling in the Cabinet Member’s decision.

Councillor S. Wright responded to the call-in and objections to this decision as follows:-

(a) the proposal was in accordance with the Borough Council’s policy to provide continuous, through primary schools, which was more inclusive and helped to remove the need for pupils to transfer to a different school during their lives at school;

(b) the proposal facilitated the development of a continuous learning environment for pupils from birth to age 19 years and would help to improve educational standards;

(c) there would be further opportunities for local residents to become involved in the process for the detailed design and construction of the new amalgamated Primary School, for example: considering the type of building materials to be used and the protection of trees on the site;

(d) the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 130.