1,080 place School in Aylesbury moves 'one step closer to reality'

With £41.5million being released jointly from the national Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) and Section 106 funding, and £3.5million from Basic Need funding, plans for a new school on the Kingsbrook development, to the east of Aylesbury, are moving closer.

You can read about the plans for the school here. The Housing Infrastructure Fund is a government capital grant programme of up to £2.3 billion, the aim is to help deliver up to 100,000 new homes in England. Funding is awarded to local authorities on a highly competitive basis, providing grant funding for new infrastructure that will unlock new homes in the areas of greatest housing demand.

Anita Cranmer, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills said: “Subject to planning approval we want to open an amazing and much needed 1,080 place secondary school, including a 32 place Special Educational Needs unit, on the Kingsbrook development. The new building will have strong environmental credentials to help minimise the carbon footprint of the school.

The aim is to open the new school for the autumn term in September 2022 to meet the rising demand from housing growth across the town.”

Bill Chapple, Cabinet Member for Environment said: “The heating and hot water will be carbon neutral delivered via high efficiency air-source heat pumps. The roof area will have space for 204 square metres of PV panels, generating approximately 28,600 kwh/year.

The building emissions rate will have a 44% reduction in carbon emissions and will achieve the highest Energy Performance Certificate rating of ‘A’. The operational energy will be below 60 kwh/sqm/year, considerably lower than a typical low energy new school building which is typically around 80 kwh/sqm/year.

The design of the building has also reduced embodied carbon emissions by use of timber framed structural insulated panels that are used for all areas of external wall build-up.”

What are Section 106 Agreements?

Section 106 (S106) Agreements are legal agreements between Local Authorities and developers; these are linked to planning permissions and can also be known as planning obligations.

Section 106 agreements are drafted when it is considered that a development will have significant impacts on the local area that cannot be moderated by means of conditions attached to a planning decision.

When a planning application is submitted to a Council, they will assess the application as to whether the development would cause a significant impact to the area and community.

The S.106 will vary depending on the nature of the development and based on the needs of the area.

The most common obligations include:

Public Open Space

Affordable Housing

Education

Highways

Town Centre Improvements

Health

Basic Need Funding

Basic Need Funding is the money the Government gives to local authorities each year to help them fulfil their duty to make sure there are enough school places for children in their local area.

The allocations announced in 2021 will allow local authorities to create the new school places they need by September 2023.