Those who followed our live coverage of last night’s emergency Isle of Wight council Executive meeting, will have already seen the outcome of the debate.
Seven members of the Executive voted in favour of handing over the freehold of Cowes Enterprise College to Ormiston Academies Trust. Cllr Steve Stubbings and Cllr Phil Jordan both abstained from voting.
Decision to dispose of school “made in 2009”
Cllr Richard Priest, the Executive member responsible for Children’s Services presented the recommendation.
He started by reminding members the original decision to dispose of Cowes High School was made by the previous Isle of Wight council (IWC) administration in 2009, when awarding the competition to Cowes Pathfinder Trust (CPT), a Foundation Trust.
He said,
“Whether or not the administration of the time were mindful of the implications of that I do not know, I was not part of that administration, but clearly that was the moment these issues should have been made and challenged and debated. 2009.”
Transfer didn’t take place
He went onto point out (as was highlighted through OnTheWight yesterday) that transfer of the land from the IWC to CPT should have taken place five years ago, but didn’t.
Cllr Priest went onto say,
“Were Cowes Enterprise College not to become a sponsored academy, the council would be contractually bound underthe 2009 Competition Notice to transfer the freehold of the land and buildings to Cowes Pathfinder Trust.
“On this basis Cowes Pathfinder Trust could have the title to the land registered in its name and effectively acquire the freehold without further reference to the council.”
“Making things simpler”
He went on to say that “in order to make things simpler”, all parties had agreed the council would transfer the freehold to Ormiston without further involvement of CPT.
In answer to several questions posed by Cllr Geoff Lumley (as chair of the Scrutiny Committee), Cllr Priest stated it was “not possible” to do a leasehold transfer as Ormiston Academies Trust had declined the lease. He added that,
If terms cannot be agreed locally, the Secretary of State has the power to determine the terms of the land transfer and the Department for Education who directly fund Ormiston therefore, it’s extremely unlikely the Secretary of State would decline any requests from it to issue a direction for the freehold transfer. Pretty Clear!”
“Wash our hands” of financial obligation
The question of the council’s further obligations to fund repairs or completion of the buildings had been raised.
Cllr Priest told members the “terms of the transfer to Ormiston do not commit the council to any further additional funding to that already agreed by the Executive” (this is around £1.5m from the original grant from the Government).
Financial commitment “won’t go away” with transfer
The council’s financial obligation was raised several times, with Cllr Steve Stubbings suggesting the council could “wash our hands” of any extra expenditure.
However, senior officer, John Metcalfe warned councillors they shouldn’t assume the financial commitment would just go away with the transfer of the freehold.
Scrutiny chair not fully informed by council
Cllr Lumley told members he’d agreed to disallow the call-in on this issue in good faith on the evidence that he’d been supplied with.
He told members he’d been made aware yesterday afternoon of Government advice of how the transfer of public land held by a local authority can be made.
Cllr Lumley pointed out this information had not been provided to him by the council when he’d been asked to waive the call-in.
Government advice on land transfers
The Government advice (which can be found here) states that public land held by a local authority should be transferred on 125 year lease with a peppercorn rent. Land that is owned by a Foundation Trust or Governing Body can be transferred to an Academy sponsor by freehold.
Cllr Lumley pointed out that as the public land was owned by the local authority, they should make the most of the opportunity and insist on a 125 year lease with a peppercorn rent.
Members voted in favour of transfer
Discussion continued with all members of the Executive asking questions and raising concerns.
After an hour of debate, the vote was taken with seven members voting in favour of the transfer of freehold to Ormiston Academies Trust.
Cllrs Stubbings and Jordan abstained from voting.
