Issue - decisions

Jacqui Dennis, Director of Law and Democratic Services provided an update regarding the report and confirmed that the figures supplied in Part B of the report are subject to validation and therefore Cabinet is not requested to confirm the full costs.

The report outlined a full explanation of the latest position, details of the programme and sought approval in principle of a fully costed bid from the contractors for the construction of the new wing and authorisation to enter into a Design and Build Contract with them.

Decision:

Cabinet:

1. Approved in principle the fully costed bid from the contractor together with the costs of the professional/consultant/client FFE costs fees for the construction of the new wing. All costs are to be covered by Children’s Services capital funding.
2. Subject to such validation being obtained, noted that authorisation will be sought under the urgent Decision route under the Constitution to be followed for final approval.
3. Authorised the Director of Law and Democratic Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People to finalise the terms of the Design and Build Contract to be entered into after such Urgent Decision has been obtained.

Reasons for decision(s):

Development of additional capacity at Millwood Primary Special School, as set out in the Project Safety Valve agreement between the Council and the Department for Education, is a key element of the specialist place sufficiency strategy. Taken together, the Agreement and strategy set out the business case for the development of new provision and expansion of existing specialist provision to meet increasing demand within Bury and reduce the reliance on placements in Independent Non-Maintained Special Schools (INMSS). The project at Millwood Primary Special School is a priority within this strategy.

Alternative options considered and rejected:

Whilst it is possible to re-procure the scheme, this would result in significant delay to delivery of the project with no certainty that costs will be reduced. The option to reprocure will remain, to be pursued in the event that the costed bid is rejected. In that event all the work carried out to date will be utilised to form an integral part of the tender documents to be issued.