Worcestershire County Council to scrap plans for new city school
The previous Conservative administration's solution was a new school in Newtown Road, which had already been given planning permission.Costs have spiralled and are now so high the project "jeopardises the affordability of the whole education capital programme", the council said.Dr Stephen Foster, cabinet member for education, said the council would need to borrow £33.6m to pay for the £63.3m school."This is the least likely option to pursue," he said, questioning the impact the project would have on the council's "financial emergency".More likely is the permanent expansion of three city schools – Nunnery Wood, Bishop Perowne and Tudor Grange Academy – plus The Chase and Dyson Perrins in Malvern."Some Worcester city pupils will not be able to access secondary education in their home locality," Cllr Foster admitted. "This option, however, reduces borrowing."
'Rule it out'
He said creating extra places at the five schools would cost £29.5m, of which £3.96m would need to be borrowed.Mr Foster said there would also be a one-off revenue cost of £4m as costs relating to the Newtown Road site could not be capitalised – but this would save £30m "over a much longer period".A third option is to explore the possibility of building a new school at County Hall, which Mr Foster said would mean borrowing at least £7m.Cabinet authorised a feasibility study to be carried out into the County Hall option, but Mr Foster said: "We are likely to rule it out."Councillor Justin Bowen said: "It is unbelievable this many children will not have school places. It should never have been allowed to get this far without action being taken."
Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Auto Car
7 minutes ago
- Auto Car
The BMW iX3 is about to make a BIG comeback
An 800V electrical architecture will mean the iX3's battery will also be able to charge at up to 400kW, enabling a 218-mile top-up in just 10 minutes from suitable chargers. Two powertrains will be available when the iX3 arrives in the UK early next year: a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive one and a dual-motor, four-wheel drive one that can deliver up to 402bhp. The second-generation iX3 also receives a new computing system that is 10 times faster than the network of chips in current BMWs. In addition, to maximise interior space within this set-up and to keep vehicle height as low as possible to aid aerodynamics, BMW will unusually bolt the front seats directly to the pack – another first for the firm. Visually, the new iX3 will draw on the original Neue Klasse models from the 1960s and return to small kidney grilles rather than the bolder, more expansive front ends that adorn the likes of the iX. The double-kidney grille will divide a large, gloss black panel on the iX3's front end – similar in style to the Vizor found on Vauxhalls. The panel is likely to conceal the sensors and cameras required by the latest generation of driver assistance systems. The rest of the car will feature a boxier, more chiselled look than today's models, with angled lights front and rear, plus a rear light bar. The reinvention continues inside the iX3, which will be the fi rst car to employ BMW's new iDrive X system.
Telegraph
7 minutes ago
- Telegraph
The village pub I run is being taxed to death
At 5pm on Saturday, my pub sat empty. The beer garden was open, the sun was shining – yet there was not a single punter to serve. If you didn't know already that Britain's pubs are in crisis, then this sorry sight would have hammered home the catastrophic impact of Rachel Reeves's tax raid. For the hospitality industry, we've never seen a situation quite as bad as this. As well as an apocalyptic backdrop of soaring costs and rising levies, landlords are also battling an unprecedented shift in consumer behaviour. Families no long view a pit stop at the pub as an everyday social activity, but rather as a special treat. And I don't blame them. When the average price of a pint rose above £5, we crossed a psychological threshold that turned what used to be one of Britain's favourite pastimes into a luxury. No landlord wants to raise prices, but it is now the only way for us to recoup costs and survive in the face of higher taxes. Somehow, the Westminster elite is yet to grasp all of this. Despite the devastating effects of the Chancellor's National Insurance increase, there is talk of further tax rises this autumn. This would not only seal the fate of many more pubs and restaurants across the UK but also further unravel the country's social fabric. The pub was once a place to enjoy each other's company. A hub where people of all backgrounds could come to congregate, socialise and get out of the house. But tax rises have ripped that apart, as hard-up households choose the cheaper option of staying at home instead of popping out for a drink and a chat. Whatever we do to attract customers, visits keep falling – as people just aren't using the pub in the same way as old. I was confronted with this depressing reality at The Wonston Arms on Saturday afternoon. Despite our award-winning status, which includes being named Camra National Pub of the Year in 2018 and recently being awarded Hampshire's best boozer by The Telegraph, we did not have a single customer. In my 10 years running the pub, which is wet-led and does not serve food, I'd never experienced anything like it. It was one of the most shocking moments in what has been a dreadful year for the industry – one dominated by closures and job losses. Since the Chancellor's Budget, I have tried to strip all unnecessary costs from the business in the hope of putting us on a stable financial footing. I've got rid of Sky TV, scaled back our weekly opening hours from 35 to 27 and gone from having three full-time staff to running the pub myself, occasionally with the help of my wife and the odd part-timer. The volatility of trading and our ballooning tax bill have made it impossible for us to hire in the same way we used to. We're not alone. Every single landlord I speak to is now saying that costs are unbearable. And the worst thing is that we can't say everything is going to be alright next weekend, or the weekend after that. Trading in the hospitality industry today means survival, not success. This is why I am calling on the Government to cut VAT for hospitality in the next Budget. Avoid the temptation of tax rises and give us a reason to invest. No one in this game is here to sit still. We all want to grow, attract more business and strengthen our ties to the local community. I invite Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves to personally come down to my pub to see how hard people like me are working. For all the pictures of politicians pulling pints and the countless promises to save Britain's pubs, it is now time for them to show they mean it.
BBC News
7 minutes ago
- BBC News
Skyrora becomes first UK-based firm to get space launch licence
A Scottish company has become the first UK-based rocket firm to receive a space launch Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) licence allows Skyrora to launch from the SaxaVord Spaceport in a future launch is successful, the company could become the first British company to manufacture and launch a rocket into space from the welcomed the news. Both the Edinburgh-based company and the CAA both describing it as a "huge milestone". The license will allow the firm to launch and operate its suborbital rocket Skylark L from the hopes to launch the rocket up to 16 times a year by 2030. A number of companies hope to use SaxaVord in Unst, the northernmost point in the UK, as a launch site for commercial January, German firm Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) was awarded the first launch operator licence allowing it to launch rockets from says Skylark L has the potential to be used for microgravity experiments at a lower cost than an orbital 11m (36ft) tall rocket was produced using components that were 3D-printed in the UK and it is capable of reaching 3.5 times the speed of is hoped that the rocket would reach an altitude of about 310 miles (500km) and then return to Earth, which would involve passing into and out of space. Rob Bishton, the chief executive of the CAA, said: "Granting a home-grown company, Skyrora, its launch licence is a major milestone for our space sector and our nation."Our work as the UK's space regulator is enabling the burgeoning launch industry to safely grow, bringing new jobs and investment with it."Skyrora chief executive Volodymyr Levykin said the journey to getting the license was a "long but ultimately rewarding one".He added: "Becoming the first homegrown company in the UK to receive a vertical launch operator licence is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone at Skyrora."Safety is paramount to us, and so we are grateful to the CAA for its diligence in ensuring any launch activity is held to the highest of standards."Skyrora is proud to be leading efforts that enable launch activity from the UK and we look forward to achieving a reliable commercial launch programme that benefits us all." Scottish Secretary Ian Murray MP called the news "a massive boost to the whole of Scotland and the wider UK's space sector".He added: "I'm very proud that Scotland is at the forefront of such pioneering technology and I look forward to blast off from SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland."The SaxaVord Spaceport is a former RAF radar year, during a test known as a hot-fire, an engine exploded at the resulted in a some damage to the launch platform and completely destroyed the space industry in the UK is estimated to be support tens of thousands of jobs.
