Agenda item

To ask Members to consider, amend and add to the committee’s work programme.

Members were invited to consider, amend and add to the committee’s work programme.

1.     Councillor Melanie Davis put forward the following recommendation:

There is currently no specialist SEND provision in Selby. There have been years of delay in starting the build for the new SEND school on Osgodby. The completion is now scheduled for mid 2026. Entrance into the new school will be staggered which will mean more years before its one hundred places are filled. We are aware that there is already more need in Selby alone than this new school can provide. Parents and families in the former Selby district struggle daily to educate their children at home or face putting their children into taxis early in the morning and waiting for their return much later in the day. This deprives those children from developing healthy play relationships with their neighbours because they cannot develop those friendship groups when they are away from home for so many hours each week.

This situation has been made worse by the now imminent closure of the SEND unit at Carlton Holy Family school which has been instrumental in providing a good education for many local children.

There is currently no real plan in place to replace that existing service which will compound an already impossible situation for local families.

Selby Area Committee therefore resolves:

That the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee conducts an immediate and urgent review of current SEND provision across the former Selby District to address these delivery gaps and produces a report within the next 3 months to reassure parents and local schools that, working with willing local schools, local SEND provision will be temporarily enhanced to fill the gap when Carlton Holy Family closes and additional SEND services will be commissioned to raise the number of available places for our children prior to the opening of the new school.

This review should consider working cross boundary with neighbouring local authorities and providing additional financial support for those schools who have already demonstrate a good record working with SEND pupils. Funds could be freed up from the school travel budget if more local provision is found which would demonstrate much better value for money than the prohibitive costs of using out of area taxis for long journeys.

Councillor Jack Proud proposed and Councillor Kirsty Poskitt seconded the recommendation, which was unanimously agreed.

Recommendation

That the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee conducts an immediate and urgent review of current SEND provision across the former Selby District to address these delivery gaps and produces a report within the next 3 months to reassure parents and local schools that, working with willing local schools, local SEND provision will be temporarily enhanced to fill the gap when Carlton Holy Family closes and additional SEND services will be commissioned to raise the number of available places for our children prior to the opening of the new school.

This review should consider working cross boundary with neighbouring local authorities and providing additional financial support for those schools who have already demonstrate a good record working with SEND pupils. Funds could be freed up from the school travel budget if more local provision is found which would demonstrate much better value for money than the prohibitive costs of using out of area taxis for long journeys.

Additions to work programme

Members requested:

·       A written update be provided as a matter of urgency on the recently announced closure of Dennison House Care Home, Selby.

·       That the Community Safety and CCTV Manager be invited to a future meeting to update the Committee on the service, with reference to the siting of knife bins in the division.

·       That an update on enforcement be brought to a future meeting of the Committee with reference to Planning and Environmental Health. This to include:

ØThe powers available

ØHow often they have been used.

ØWhich service is responsible for the types of enforcement.