A specialist nursery for children with SEN and disabilities charity hopes to move premises so children no longer need to be carried from floor to floor.
The Jeanne Saunders Centre is currently based in the four-storey Penny Gobby House in Palmeira Avenue, which has no lift.
It now plans to move to The Annexe, on Connaught Road, with Penny Gobby House set to be put up for sale by the council
The charity provides care and early education for children with SEND in the year before they start school.
A report to be submitted to the Policy and Resources Committee on Thursday, 19 January, recommends a sub-committee be appointed to manage the relocation.
The report says: “The Charity is an outstanding specialist nursery for young children with SEND, offering them the opportunity of being able to access a split curriculum offer to attend a mainstream provision as well as having more specialist support provided by the charity.
“There have always been issues with the property not being suitable for young children with mobility needs.
“The Annexe at Connaught Road offers the space for the development of the provision, the opportunity to increase the cohorts of young people accessing this service and the ability to comply with legislative requirements to offer an enhanced and bespoke environment.”
As the council is both the sole trustee of the charity and the landowner, an urgent sub-committee is needed to manage this conflict of interest.
The sub-committee’s responsibilities would include negotiating the sale of 31 Palmeira Avenue, Hove also known as Penny Gobby House, as well as the purchase of The Annexe at Connaught Road by the charity.
The sub-committee may also have to make arrangements on how to ring fence or spend any net proceeds from the move for the charity’s aims of improving life for children with SEND.
A council spokesperson said: “The council as the sole trustee of the Penny Gobby House School Charity is committed to supporting the charity’s objectives of promoting the care, welfare, interest, treatment, education and advancement of young children with special educational needs.
“The property at 31 Palmeira Avenue is used to provide the Jeanne Saunders Centre, a specialist nursery providing care and early education for children with special educational needs and disabilities in the year before they start school.
“However, there have always been issues with the property not being suitable for young children with mobility needs.
“It is a converted residential building that is on four floors with no lift and many stairs. The property also needs a lot of ongoing maintenance.
“We believe a space at the Connaught Road site known as The Annexe offers an opportunity for the development of improved provision with much better accessibility for the children using the current service at the Jeanne Saunders Centre.
“It also offers an opportunity to increase the numbers of young people accessing this service.
“Under our proposal the charity would sell 31 Palmeira Avenue on the open market and use the proceeds of the sale to acquire the Annexe.
“Any surplus from the sale would be set aside for the charity to be spent in accordance with its objectives.
“Our policy and resources committee on 19 January is being asked to agree to the setting up of a sub-committee to consider the proposals and to have regard only to the interests of the charity.”
