Revealed: The councils leading ministers’ spare space pilot

Six councils have been selected by ministers to trial how best to use empty spaces in schools amid the falling rolls crisis.

Government papers, obtained by Schools Week, reveal which town halls – stretching from the Midlands to the south east – will investigate how spare classrooms can be used for other community needs.

The Department for Education targeted areas with high proportions of surplus spaces and need for other facilities such as youth centres.

Lincolnshire, one of the councils selected, has revealed ambitions to launch dozens of “SEND hubs” in mainstream schools a year through the project.

But Martin Smith, its assistant director for education said “it is important to recognise that not all schools with surplus accommodation are suitably located for these types of provision”.

“In considering alternative community uses, careful assessment must be given to factors such as local demand, site suitability, safeguarding requirements, and the ability for members of the public to access the premises safely.”

Family hubs and health centres

The Department for Education’s education estates strategy, published earlier this year, showed several “pathfinders” would be launched “to pilot how surplus spaces in the education estate can be used flexibly to meet wider community needs”.

This included “join up across the public estate including Best Start family hubs”.

DfE would also work with other branches of government “to identify where new housing acceleration schemes, young futures hubs, and neighbourhood health centres” could be housed.

The project will support the creation of a “decision-making framework”, due to be published in the autumn, on the “use of surplus mainstream school space during demographic change”.

Officials also hope the trial will “help form a blueprint for education’s integration in local community services for the delivery of new towns”.

40 SEND hubs a year

The DfE confirmed, through freedom of information, that Birmingham, Nottingham, Lincolnshire, West Sussex, Croydon and Lambeth councils will take part in the trial.

It said the department targeted “areas with both high proportions of surplus places and a need for community facilities, such as youth centres”.

The councils are expected to “develop proposals over the summer for repurposing surplus school space for alternative community use”.

When approached by Schools Week, four of the councils responded. Three did not provide specifics, stressing the plans were at an early stage.

However, Lincolnshire said its “ambition is to establish up to 40 SEND hubs each year, funded by capital grant funding”.

Schools interested in hosting one “are assessed against factors including available accommodation, commitment to inclusive practice and evidence of local demand”.

The authority is “also exploring options with school-based nurseries, wrap around childcare, alternative provision hubs, also funded by grant funding”, Smith added.