School places for all could become 'undeliverable'

Local authorities could soon be unable to fulfil their obligation to find all children a secondary school place, council chiefs have warned.

Legally, councils must provide a school place for all children in their area, but the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned this could become "undeliverable" without more power to open new secondary schools and expand existing ones.

Since the passing of the 2011 Education Act, all new state schools must be free schools or academies, both of which are funded directly by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control.

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Under the current system, a local authority must seek proposals for a free school or academy if it needs more school places. However, Councillor Brigid Jones, Birmingham's cabinet member for children's services, told the BBC that convincing academies and free schools to open in the right places at the right times "can be a nightmare".

Roy Perry, the LGA's children and young people chairman, told ITV News: "If academies are not willing to expand, then powers to create new schools should be returned to local authorities themselves if they are unable to secure high quality free school sponsors in their communities."

One in six state secondary schools are already at or overcapacity, the BBC reports, with the number of applicants getting a place at their preferred school dropping steadily, from 85.2 per cent in 2014 to 84.2 per cent last year. Schools in London are the most overburdened, with only 68.9 per cent of children aged 11 offered their first choice of secondary school.

However, a Department for Education spokesman said that the government had confidence in the current system.

"Instead of scaremongering, the LGA needs to ensure they use the funds provided by government to secure enough places," the spokesman said. "We are confident there are enough quality sponsors to meet demand."