Delaying Bedelands Academy risks more than just time

UPDATE: 3 hours after this column was published online, West Sussex County Council's cabinet member finally replied to the questions I asked.

Like many people, I was dismayed by the announcement from Conservative run West Sussex County Council that they have ‘paused’ the construction of Bedelands Academy. This new secondary school was set to be the flagship project of the Northern Arc aka ‘Brookleigh’ in Burgess Hill, but now work is delayed for two years, which in all likelihood means at least five years before children will be able to join the school.

West Sussex County Council (WSCC) has said the pause is due to inadequate student numbers caused by a slowing of the housing market and falling birth rates.

However, the challenges facing Bedelands Academy go beyond just pupil numbers. The costs have spiralled from an original estimate of £54 million to £74 million by 2024. It is reasonable to assume that these costs have only increased further since, although the current project build costs have not been published by WSCC.

WSCC are right to make sure that they are spending taxpayers’ money wisely. However, they had the opportunity to do this in February when my Liberal Democrat county council colleagues raised concerns about the costs during the annual budget process. The Conservatives confirmed that they were happy to spend almost 15% of their total capital budget on this one school, but 6 months later appear to be changing their minds.

The WSCC cabinet member for Children, Young People, Learning, and Skills gave me the opportunity to raise questions with her when the pause was first announced. I appreciated this and duly wrote to her asking a series of questions about the financing of the project, the projected pupil numbers and the land that is earmarked for the school. Three weeks later, I am still waiting to hear back. It appears that WSCC are reluctant to justify this decision to me confidentially, let alone on the public record.

When I knock on doors in Mid Sussex the thing I hear time and again is that while we have lots of house building here, we too often don’t get the infrastructure to go with it. We must have homes that people can afford, but we also must build communities too, and schools are critical. West Sussex County Council cannot be allowed to use this pause to quietly cancel Bedelands Academy. The school must be built.