By Andrew Topping, Local Democracy Reporter
A Blidworth primary school due to join an East Midlands academy trust will be given a 125-year lease by Nottinghamshire County Council to reduce rents on its buildings.
Blidworth Oaks Primary School, in Haywood Avenue, will join the East Midlands Education Trust later this year following a series of consultations with parents and residents last autumn.
The school said the decision was taken to “cement” its “close relationship” with the nearby Joseph Whitaker School, which is already part of the trust, and to support pupils’ access to the secondary school.
It adds joining the academy trust will provide access to “substantial funding streams”, helping to provide funding for school buildings, which the school says will leave more money in its budgets to support its pupils.
And the school believes the move will offer more opportunities and training for staff and provide “expertise and resources” to drive it forward in the long term.
Now Nottinghamshire County Council is due to make the process official by handing over the school site to the academy trust.
It will provide the trust with a 125-year lease to operate the school and control all buildings at its Haywood Avenue base, whilst also offering a “peppercorn rent” to reduce long-term maintenance costs.
Matthew Neal, the council’s service director for investment and growth, took the delegated decision to grant the lease last week, with the decision to become effective from July 18.
In a report published ahead of the decision, Neil Gamble, group manager for property asset management, confirmed the lease also includes control of a former Sure Start children’s centre.
He said: “As part of the conversion process, the academy trust is entitled to a 125-year full repairing and insuring lease at a peppercorn rent.
“This will include any council-owned land and buildings which form part of the principal operational school site.
“The conversion includes a former Sure Start children’s centre which forms part of the main building and is now used by the school for the provision of childcare together, with a detached playing field.”
A statement from the trust welcomed news the school will become part of its long list of academies, with the Blidworth school joining alongside Heathlands Primary School in neighbouring Rainworth.
The trust statement said: “Following a formal consultation, the governing bodies of both Blidworth Oaks and Heathlands primaries have unanimously decided to join our trust in 2022.
“We look forward to working closely with everyone at the two schools in the run-up to their conversions.”
The trust, based in West Bridgford, currently controls about 20 academies across the East Midlands, including several schools in Rushcliffe and Broxtowe as well as the Joseph Whitaker School in Rainworth.
