Directors from a contractor have been ordered to give regular progress updates after a special school failed to open at the start of the new school year.
The delays to a building project for a new special school in Brighton came to light just two weeks before the start of term.
Work started on the Hive in Lynchet Close, Hollingdean, in January after Brighton and Hove City Council agreed to set up the specialist provision for autistic children with school-based anxiety.
The centre – for 32 pupils at the former Cedar Centre special school site – would be a satellite site for Hill Park, Portslade, a school for children with learning disabilities.
When councillors approved the project in June last year, they were told that the site would not look like a school but would include a hairdressers, café and allotment.
However, parents are concerned about the temporary location, the Connaught Centre, in Hove, which until recently housed West Hove Infant School.
Simone Birch asked councillors at the Children, Families and Schools Committee yesterday (Monday 11 September) why parents had just 14 days’ notice of the change.
She said: “Most (young people) haven’t attended school for months/years due to lack of provision meeting their EHCP (education, health and care plan) stated needs.
“Cosmur were contracted to refurbish the site in January – for September opening – but failed to deliver, with parents given 14 days’ notice of switching to a temporary site which isn’t suitable for meeting these children’s needs.”
She asked if the planning process had been “robust”.
Green councillor Chloë Goldsmith also raised the subject and asked for an assurance that there would be no more delays in the refurbishment of the site.
Councillor Goldsmith said: “What is the council doing to ensure that there are no more delays to the refurbishment work at the Hive and to make sure the school will open as planned in January?
“Are the council also doing anything more to track the progress of the refurbishment so that if there are any more delays, parents are given far more than two weeks’ notice of any changes?”
Labour councillor Lucy Helliwell, who co-chairs the council’s Children, Families and Schools Committee said that the council regularly met the contractor to discuss progress.
At these meetings, she said, the council had been given assurances that the work was on target.
It was only on Sunday 13 August that the council learnt that the first phase of work would not be completed in time for September.
Councillor Helliwell said: “We have been working with the contractor’s directors to obtain a programme for completion of the work that all parties can have confidence in.
“The project is in three phases. The delay is in phase one and has been a result of extended lead-in times for windows and doors which is currently an industry-wide issue.
“The contractor is currently reporting a date for the delivery of steelwork for the new-build element into early 2023, with phase three being complete by the end of March 2024.”
She said that the council had now insisted that the company’s directors attend monthly progress meetings and flag any delays.
Parents with children on the roll at the Hive will receive a weekly report.
