Draft Black Country Plan

Comment

Representation ID: 43904

Received: 11/10/2021

Respondent: Department of Education

School Rebuilding Programme

The DfE is currently undertaking a nationwide school rebuilding programme (SRP) based on condition and need. A number of sites within the Black Country
Plan area will benefit from this programme. In light of the SRP programme of works, we would welcome the support of the local authorities within the Black Country Plan area to help ensure that the programme of school rebuilds and expansions can be delivered in a timely fashion. Specifically, it would be helpful if policy HOU 5 Education Facilities (page 112/3) could be revised to make clearer its support for the improvement of existing school sites, as required by the NPPF (para 95).

Comment

Representation ID: 43905

Received: 11/10/2021

Respondent: Department of Education

Site Allocations

The site allocations policies should also seek to clarify requirements for the delivery of new schools, including when they should be delivered to support
housing growth, the minimum site area required, any preferred site characteristics, and any requirements for safeguarding additional land for future expansion of schools where need and demand indicates this might be
necessary.

Viability assessment should inform options analysis and site selection, with site typologies reflecting the type and size of developments that are envisaged in the
borough/district. This enables an informed judgement about which developments would be able to deliver the range of infrastructure required, including schools,
leading to policy requirements that are fair, realistic and evidence based. In accordance with Planning Practice Guidance, there should be an initial assumption that applicable developments will provide both land and funding for the construction of new schools. The total cumulative cost of complying with all relevant policies should not undermine deliverability of the plan, so it is important that anticipated education needs, and costs of provision are incorporated at the outset, to inform local decisions about site selection and infrastructure priorities.

While it is important to provide this clarity and certainty to developers and the communities affected by development, retaining a degree of flexibility about site
specific requirements for schools is also necessary given that the need for school places can vary over time due to the many variables affecting it.

The department would like to be included as early as possible in discussions on potential site allocations, as there are central wave pipeline free school projects
in Walsall (Darlaston Technology Primary, and Swift Academy) and Wolverhampton (Wednesfield Technology Primary) which may be appropriate for specific designation. We would welcome the opportunity to meet
with the Council in the near future to discuss these projects.

Comment

Representation ID: 43906

Received: 11/10/2021

Respondent: Department of Education

Developer Contributions and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

One of the tests of soundness is that a Local Plan is ‘effective’, meaning the plan should be deliverable over its period. In this context and with specific regard to
planning for schools, there is a need to ensure that education contributions made by developers are sufficient to deliver the additional school places required to
meet the increase in demand generated by new developments. The department notes that both Sandwell MBC and Dudley MBC have adopted CIL regimes in
place and that the Black Country Plan seeks to ensure appropriate rates are levied and the right infrastructure is secured across the Black Country Plan area.

Local authorities have sometimes experienced challenges in funding schools via Section 106 planning obligations due to limitations on the pooling of developer
contributions for the same item or type of infrastructure. However, the revised CIL Regulations remove this constraint, allowing unlimited pooling of developer
contributions from planning obligations and the use of both Section 106 funding and CIL for the same item of infrastructure. The advantage of using Section 106
relative to CIL for funding schools is that it is clear and transparent to all stakeholders what value of contribution is being allocated by which development to which schools, thereby increasing certainty that developer contributions will be used to fund the new school places that are needed. The department supports
the use of planning obligations to secure developer contributions for education wherever there is a need to mitigate the direct impacts of development, consistent with Regulation 122 of the CIL Regulations.

We also request a reference within the Local Plan’s policies or supporting text to explain that developer contributions may be secured retrospectively when it has
been necessary to forward fund infrastructure projects in advance of anticipated housing growth. An example of this would be the local authority’s expansion of a
secondary school to ensure that places are available in time to support development coming forward. This helps to demonstrate that the plan is positively prepared and deliverable over its period.

19. The department would be particularly interested in responding to any update to the Infrastructure Delivery Plan/Infrastructure Funding Statement, viability
assessment or other evidence relevant to education which may be used to inform local planning policies and CIL charging schedules. As such, please add
the department to the database for future consultations on relevant plans and proposals.