Department for Communities and Local Government
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Positive planning for new free schools
| Published | 27 July 2010 |
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New planning principles for councils to consider when determining planning applications for school developments with local support were published ahead of the Royal Assent of the Academies Bill (external link) this week.
The changes will allow school promoters to be confident about progressing their proposals and for new free schools to be set up quickly in response to demand from local people. The Education Secretary has already stated Government is committed to making it easier to secure sites for new schools.
Free Schools are independent state schools run by teachers not bureaucrats or politicians and accountable to parents. Free Schools will enable excellent teachers to create new schools and improve standards for all children.
Local Planning Authorities and the Planning Inspectorate will be expected to take the statement (external link) into account as a material consideration when determining all planning applications for school development. In determining planning applications, local authorities should:
- attach very significant weight to the desirability of establishing new schools and to enabling local people to do so;
- adopt a positive and constructive approach towards applications to create new schools, and seek to mitigate any negative impacts of development through the use of planning conditions or planning obligations, as appropriate; and
- only refuse planning permission for a new school if the adverse planning impacts on the local area outweigh the desirability of establishing a school in that area. Where a local authority refuses permission on this basis, the Government will ask the Planning Inspectorate to deal swiftly with any appeal that is lodged.
The Government will shortly be consulting on proposed changes to the Use Classes Order to reduce unnecessary regulation and make it easier for buildings currently used for other uses to be converted to schools.
Key facts
1. The coalition programme for government states that: We will promote the reform of schools in order to ensure that new providers can enter the state school system in response to parental demand; that all schools have greater freedom over the curriculum; and that all schools are held properly to account.
2. The Education Secretary has stated the Government's commitment to making it easier to secure sites for new schools would include allowing a wider range of sites, including residential and commercial property, to be used as schools without the need for 'change of use' consent. There will also be an extension of powers to protect existing schools sites, to make sure they are kept available for use by new schools where there is demand. See: http://www.education.gov.uk/news/press-notices-new/freeschools (external link).
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