Major proposals for a new secondary school in Birmingham have taken a step forward despite concern over soaring costs.
The city council has been pushing ahead with its plans for extension works at Hamilton School in Handsworth amid the high demand for places for children with special educational needs across the city.
The Labour-run authority has acknowledged there is a large shortfall of available school places to “safely educate this cohort of children”.
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Cabinet members at the council last year approved the costs for the Hamilton School project, which includes plans for new secondary school provision.
But it was revealed earlier this year that changes to the design of the project meant the total cost had jumped by just over £5 million to a total of £25.6 million.
Government-appointed commissioners, sent in to oversee the council’s financial recovery, said the changes had “both significantly increased costs and introduced delay”.
Despite the higher cost, council planners have now approved proposals for a new two-storey secondary school at the Handsworth site as well as an extension to the existing primary school building.
Coun Lee Marsham, chair of the planning committee, said at a meeting this month: “I suspect many of you in your inboxes and advice surgeries have parents of young people who require special educational settings.
Birmingham Council House. -Credit:Graham Young / BirminghamLive
“There aren’t always the appropriate places or support in place across the city so I think it’s really welcome.”
The plans were approved by the planning committee, subject to conditions, on Thursday, July 3.
Why did the project costs rise by £5 million?
According to a council report, a contractor identified an ‘alternative design solution’ that would reportedly enhance the chances of getting planning permission.
It would move the location of the extension build of the Primary, meaning it would be further away from a residential area.
The report said the changes would also improve the “design of flow to better meet the needs of both children and staff”.
It said the total project cost was “still deemed as value for money” to create a permanent secondary expansion for 160 children, as well as creating the additional capacity at the primary school.
Despite this, the government-appointed commissioners argued the authority needed to learn the lessons from recent damning reports on huge mistakes, such as the disastrous implementation of the Oracle IT system and the Perry Barr ‘athletes village’ scheme.
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“Members must be able to rely on honest accurate reporting especially when things do not go to plan,” they wrote.
“This needs to be a whole council culture change.”
Labour council leader John Cotton has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the culture within the council was being “reshaped” through its improvement and recovery plan.
“You can see there were things that were wrong within the culture of this organisation, as well as how it was structured, which enabled mistakes to happen,” he said. “I think we’re in a much stronger place now.”
The previous council report said project completion was projected to be September 2026.
External auditors have highlighted several issues which contributed to financial turmoil at the council, including the equal pay debacle, inadequate budget setting, poor service management and demand-led pressures.
The political blame game which followed the council effectively declaring itself bankrupt has also seen Coun Cotton point the finger at both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats amid funding cuts over the past decade or so.