Item 13                      Jubilee School, Gatland Lane, Maidstone, ME15 9UT

14/503957/FULL

Additional comments from KCC Education re Maidstone West Planning Group (see attached)

Additional information has been provided by the Area Education Officer for KCC regarding the latest forecasts on total capacity for Reception Year Places.  The limitation of Jubilee School to an intake of 30 pupils per year would lead to a deficit of school places from 2016 onwards, due to the latest revised figures (based on admissions information from the current year R intake September 2015-2016). 

In particular, the revised figures indicated that there would be a ‘bulge year’ in 2016-2017 with a deficit of 35 places, however, after that the deficit for each year would be under 10 places (as shown on attached tables).  This demonstrates the need for the School as set out in the main report.  However, there are a number of reasons, discussed in the main report, as to why it is considered that the school needs to be limited on pupil numbers.  It is necessary to make a balanced judgement as to what the application site is capable of providing, without having an adverse impact on the surrounding area.

Recommendation

The recommendation for “Approved with conditions” remains unchanged.