Hertfordshire County Council will be forced to pick up a £2 million shortfall after two councils halved their contributions towards plans for a new special needs school.
Breakspeare School currently teaches 97 children on a site in Abbots Langley, but could move to a redeveloped site in Croxley Green with a higher capacity of 210 places.
With development costs estimated at £32m, the county council had asked the four closest district and borough councils to contribute funds collected from developers through the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).
CIL funds can be used to help deliver infrastructure projects like schools, healthcare facilities, play areas or sports facilities that may be needed to support development in an area.
But now it has emerged that Dacorum and Hertsmere borough councils have agreed to pass on around half of the amounts HCC said it had requested.
Dacorum had been asked to contribute £2.66 million but has agreed to hand over £1,364,424, while Hertsmere was asked for £1.47 million but has agreed to pay £769,058.
Three Rivers District Council and Watford Borough Council agreed to requests for contributions of £901,574 and £769,058 respectively.
Hertfordshire County Council called the CIL funding request from each council “proportionate” as they reflected the level of housing growth in each authority.
Executive member for education, libraries and lifelong learning councillor Caroline Clapper said she was “disappointed” by the councils’ decision, who claimed their agreed lower contributions were “proportionate”.
A spokesperson for Dacorum Borough Council said they supported the plans to relocate Breakspeare School, but raised concerns about the amount requested and carried out a review of HCC’s methodology.
“Using the information supplied by HCC, the calculation was revised to include only housing completions that attracted a CIL liability,” said the council spokesperson.
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“This resulted in a funding figure of £1,364,424, which we consider to be a fair and proportionate contribution from Dacorum to this essential school in the South-West Hertfordshire area”.
Hertsmere Borough Council leader councillor Jeremy Newmark also expressed “strong support” for the plans, but said it was “quite wrong” to say that the borough council had “reduced” its contribution.
He said Hertsmere’s contribution was “proportionate and generous, when compared to the amount of funding being contributed by other district and borough councils in South West Hertfordshire”.
“Especially when the scheme will not guarantee a single place for Hertsmere students,” Cllr Newmark added. “The quantum of our funding is aligned with the middle of three financial models submitted to us by Hertfordshire County Council.
“We must take into account all projects which will require or be the subject of bids for our limited Community Infrastructure Levy fund.
“Despite SEND provision being the duty and responsibility of Hertfordshire County Council, we are committed to playing a part in meeting the growing need.
“This investment will not be the only funding we allocate to SEND provision. We will not be putting all of our eggs into one basket.”
At the Hertsmere Borough Council meeting in July where it made the decision, councillors heard that the county council had made CIL requests totalling £7.73 million, but had assumed CIL funding of only £4.31 million.
Concerns about the “robustness of the methodology” were also highlighted, as well as competing demands on the CIL fund from other infrastructure providers.
County councillor Clapper said HCC will meet the “shortfall”, but she warned the reduced contributions will undermine its ability to deliver other projects.
“Relocating and enlarging Breakspeare School is a top priority in Hertfordshire County Council’s plan to address the critical need for additional school places for children and young people with the most severe and profound learning disabilities which is why we are funding over £20 million of the £31.7 million cost,” she said.
“We are disappointed that two of the councils in the area have decided to contribute only half what is needed from them from the funding pots they are collecting from housing developers with Hertsmere Borough Council putting forward £769,058 out of £1.47 million requested and Dacorum £1.34 million out of £2.66 million.
“They each hold over £19 million in these pots which should be spent on necessary new infrastructure and services to support growth in our county.
“We are grateful that Three Rivers District Council and Watford Borough Council have agreed to make their contributions of £901,574 and £769,058 in full.
“Our bids were fair, proportionate and based on a robust methodology linked to the level of housing growth in each authority.
“In this case, the shortfall in funding will be made up by HCC to ensure these much-needed extra SEND school places can be created, but we are clear that reduced contributions from district and boroughs undermines our ability to deliver projects like new roads, schools and care homes for the benefit Hertfordshire’s growing communities in the long term.”
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