Schemes to boost education facilities at two North Yorkshire schools are expected to benefit from a multi-million pound windfall.
The schools, in the former Ryedale district, look set to be allocated more than £3 million from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) fund – money that is collected from developers to be used for community infrastructure in the same area.
Members of North Yorkshire Council’s executive will meet on Tuesday next week (20 June) when they will be asked to approve that CIL money previously promised to 11 community groups and schools by the former Ryedale District Council to instead be channelled into the school projects.
Councillors will be told that the groups had been wrongly promised this cash – but the organisations will be offered help in finding alternative sources of funding for their schemes.
As part of local government reorganisation, national legislation stated that certain types of expenditure put forward by the previous seven district and borough councils in North Yorkshire needed the consent of the then-county council.
However, three days before the new North Yorkshire Council was launched, Ryedale District Council asked for consent for the 11 CIL schemes. Because it was so close to the launch day on April 1, the district council was told this consent was not possible and the schemes would be considered by the new council’s executive.
Council leader, Cllr Carl Les, said: “I met with the leadership of Ryedale District Council on more than one occasion, and wrote to all the politicians at the authority urging them not to make promises that we might not be able to keep.
“However, it appears that despite my warnings that these schemes might not go forward, the groups were wrongly told the allocations had approval and we are now in a position where we have to say no.”
The deputy leader of the council, Cllr Gareth Dadd, said the authority is facing a large number of capital needs and insufficient funding to meet them.
The money is now earmarked to be spent on a proposed new school at Norton Lodge as well as renovations at Welburn Hall School, a residential school for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Cllr Dadd, who is also the executive member for finance and resources, said: “As a unitary authority we now have the opportunity to take a holistic view of community infrastructure needs in line with the CIL planning and policy guidance.
“We have had a long hard look at all of these Ryedale schemes, and, although some are welcomed, the recommendation is to not approve any of them but preserve the available funds to deal with the unfunded capital needs for education in the former Ryedale area.
“I understand that this may cause upset for the groups affected but we are due to seek to work with them to see if there are other ways of delivering the schemes that the council supports.
“The executive will consider all the information set out in the report when it meets on Tuesday next week, and officers have recommended that this money is spent on education needs where capital funding is overstretched and we have notable funding gaps.
“The proposed new school at Norton Lodge and the refurbishment of Welburn Hall School, a residential school, for SEND children are both set to benefit from this money.
“It is essential that any approvals from this CIL fund are delivering strong value for money for the taxpayers of the former district of Ryedale, and the county.”
A North Yorkshire-wide approach to CIL money is due to now be produced, mindful of the restrictions on the funding generated in the former district and borough boundaries, with a report coming back to the executive and a full council meeting in the future.