Agenda item

Councillor Howson had given written notice of the following question to Councillor Constance: -

“Leaving aside East West Rail and the GWR electrification project, what progress on other rail projects has there been in Oxfordshire during 2018?”

Councillor Constance replied: -

“Network Rail has completed the £97 million Oxford area signalling scheme, replacing the 1960s signalling with a state-of-the-art system controlled from the Thames Valley Signalling Centre in Didcot. Signals have been replaced and extra signals provided to increase capacity.

Network Rail has completed Oxford Corridor Phase 1, a £163 million scheme to upgrade and remodel the track layout around Oxford station to remove conflicting movements, provide greater operational flexibility, improve train speeds and increase capacity.

Network Rail is finalising the business case for Oxford Corridor Phase 2, and this is due to be submitted to Government in spring 2019. This phase of work comprises a new northbound island platform, replacement of the Botley Road bridge, realignment of Roger Dudman Way and Cripley Road, level crossing closures north of Oxford and upgraded track to and from East West Rail. It is estimated at around £160 million and will be delivered by 2023. Officers are working with Network Rail to define our future highway requirements.

The North Cotswold Line Taskforce has met regularly throughout the year and is developing a Strategic Outline Business Case for investing in extra capacity between Oxford and Hanborough to enable a more frequent train service that can support new housing and employment in West Oxfordshire.

Platform extension work is underway at stations on the North Cotswold Line to enable longer InterCity Express Trains to be introduced in 2019.

A new £20 million multi-storey car park has opened at Didcot Parkway partly funded from the Local Growth Fund. This has provided an extra 910 spaces, and increases car parking to 1800 spaces. Network Rail has built a step-free pedestrian link between the new car park and the station building.

Electrification of the Great Western Mainline through Oxfordshire is complete and electric trains can now operate between London Paddington and Swindon (and from next year, Cardiff), albeit not through Steventon, where the ongoing objection to replacing the bridge means trains cannot use electric power and have to use their on-board diesel engines.

We have agreed that Network Rail will review the economic and operating case for completing electrification between Didcot and Oxford. If it were to go ahead, it would be designed with passive provision for future four-tracking.

The County Council jointly commissioned initial site assessment work for the proposed Wantage & Grove station with Vale of White Horse District Council to ensure appropriate land is safeguarded in their Local Plan. As a result, two potential sites have been identified.

Informal discussions have been held with Oxford University about a proposal for a new station near Begbroke. This will serve the expanding Science Park and the strategic housing site being proposed in the Cherwell Local Plan. We await further information from the University.

Oxfordshire Rail Corridor Study – this is a vital project and an investment priority for Oxfordshire as it will establish the priorities for rail investment in Oxfordshire for the next 30 years. Officers have, and continue to be, heavily involved in working with Network Rail and the Department for Transport in drafting and agreeing key documents and defining the scope of the study. The first stage strategic study will demonstrate how prioritised rail investment can support the economy and wider growth development in Oxfordshire, including delivering the Housing & Growth deal (and the new housing it includes), and the emerging Joint Statutory Spatial Plan.

The strategic study will identify a number of interventions, some of which will then be developed further in the second stage. However, the importance of the Cowley Branch Line means that further development work will be done in parallel with the strategic study.

Supplementary: Responding to a further question Councillor Constance agreed that she would have expected to see a statement on the Cowley branch line and she undertook to provide a response.

Councillor Turnbull had given written notice of the following questions to Councillor Lindsay-Gale: -

“1. A key part of the SEND sufficiency of places strategy is ensuring that all mainstream schools support an inclusive approach to education. How confident are you that schools will be receptive to this approach, and what steps are being taken to ensure that academies, and not just maintained schools, adopt this inclusive approach?

Councillor Lindsay-Gale replied:

“The code of practice states that where possible all children should be educated in a mainstream school, but especially when this is requested by the parent.

In many cases schools can sometimes feel that they lack the experience and expertise to meet some children’s needs in a mainstream environment.  We have a high level of special educational needs expertise across the schools in Oxfordshire and by using this expertise to upskill our schools, where we/they have identified they require support, it will empower them to be able to meet more children with SEN in their local school.

In the autumn term 2018 a series of briefings were conducted in the North, Centre and South of the county where this was shared with Headteacher’s, Governors Inclusion leaders and SENCOs of both Academy and Maintained schools. The feedback from those that attended was very positive and agreed that this was the right direction to be taking. We work in the same way with academies and maintained schools in relation to special educational needs and will continue to foster and further develop our relationship with all schools in relation to an inclusive approach.

Oxfordshire LA have already identified that it needs to review the funding that is paid to schools to support children with special educational needs.  We are hoping that with the above and a clear funding model this will also help to further support schools to meet all children’s needs.

In addition to the above, Ofsted have announced a change to the inspection framework from September 2019, which ensures that schools remain responsible for children who are on roll and have accessed alternative provision. Therefore, the journey of a child’s progress and provision be it at the school or at an alternative placement will be more closely tracked, this greater focus in the inspection framework can only improve the provision provided for all children in all types of schools.”

“2. The decision of the Cabinet in June to support a consultation to close Northfield School was extremely stressful for everyone involved with the school - a school that was already having to operate out of temporary classrooms across two sites because the main school building had been allowed to deteriorate. As Cabinet is now being asked to agree to rebuild and expand Northfield School (which when suggested by the Labour Group we were told was not an option) I would like to ask what lessons have been learned from this process about the way that the County Council manages its maintained schools, and special schools in particular?”

Councillor Lindsay-Gale replied:

“As stated in the question, the decision to look at closing Northfield was a stressful and difficult time for all. In April of 2018 due to a temporary school closure it became clear that the school building was not fit for purpose and this resulted in the need for the temporary provision across the two sites. It was at this time that the need for options to be explored was required as the situation was totally unprecedented. As a result, the consultation paper was presented to enable the Council to gather the necessary information to inform any future proposal.

The consultation took place to determine views on

·         Close the Northfield School, placing current students in alternate and more suitable provision, pending the outcome of the SEND Review

·         Continue to operate Northfield School as is, pending the outcome of the SEND Review

The clear feedback from a range of stakeholders including parents of children at the school, students, staff, Unions, MPs and presentations made to Cabinet by members of the public was that they were not supportive of the proposal to close the school and were very keen to consider all other options rather than closure.

A further consideration was that at the time of the decision the school had over 50 pupils on roll and when looking at the local market it was clear that to place these children in alternative school placements would not be possible.  All maintained special schools in neighbouring authorities who take children with special needs such as those at Northfield, advised that they did not have any available places, and those schools in the independent sector, where places might have been available, could not accommodate the number of children who we would have needed to place at short notice. 

Therefore, all these factors were taken into consideration in the decision to bring the proposal to Cabinet to rebuild Northfields as the best option for the children and young people with such complex needs.

There have been a number of valuable lessons learnt from this process: - 

• The clear need for a Council SEND Sufficiency of Places Strategy. The timing of this strategy was driven by the need for more places and this was clearly exemplified by the Northfield’s situation.
• A survey of all Special Schools has been conducted to build the Council’s knowledge of the condition of schools and working in partnership with Property services to develop a capital works programme for our schools.
• Review the delegation of repair and maintenance responsibility and budget with our schools
• Establish clearly defined and approved governance process to expediate decision making should an emergency situation arise and that key senior managers are pre identified to lead on the operations and decision making needed.
• Review our business continuity plan and budget for emergency school closure”