See answers to previous information requests

I would like to request the following information relating to the population and provision of community facilities, in particular for primary and secondary education places and local health care services in the parishes of Shinfield and Swallowfield:

1. Population numbers and changes over the past 30 years, for example in 1992/3, 2002/03, 2012/13 and 2022/23 broken down by Adults (age >18), children (of school age, 5 to 11 years and 11 to 18 years old) and younger children below school age.
This information would be held on the Office of National Statistics website.

2. What was the forecast growth in the numbers of places required at both primary and secondary schools arising from the housing developments in each parish since 1992.
3. I presume the Borough Council has modelled the school age population growth requirements at various points over the past 30 years as part of the approvals process for all the housing developments and made plans to meet these requirements. Please provide any documentary evidence that sets out these projections and plans.

The council does not maintain accessible records of historic policy decisions. Therefore, it can only answer questions 2 and 3 relating to the recent past, and in particular planning policy adopted in 2010.

Q2: The council does not plan school place provision by parish. Primary school places have been planned through seven primary school planning areas throughout this period. Secondary school places were planned at a borough level in 2010, but in 2016 the borough was divided into two planning areas for the secondary school place planning purposes.

Q3: In the council’ Core Strategy, adopted in 2010, the council focused most development (10,000 new homes) into four large development areas, known as “Strategic Development Locations” (SDLs):
• North Wokingham SDL (within the Wokingham Town Council area), where a need for 210 primary school places was identified.
• South Wokingham SDL (within the Wokingham Town Council and the Wokingham Without Parish Council areas). Here a need for up to 840 primary school places was identified, split 420 places in the Wokingham TC area and up to 420 places in the Wokingham Without area.
• South of the M4 SDL (within Shinfield Parish), where a need of up to 840 primary school places was identified.
• Arborfield SDL (parts of Arborfield and Newland, Barkham, Finchampstead and Swallowfield parishes), where a need of up to 840 primary school places (split 420 in Barkham and 420 in Finchampstead), plus up 1,500 secondary school places in Barkham parish (albeit to serve a wider area).

Q3: The planning process dealt with both the number of homes in each area and the infrastructure (including school places) that would be required to support them.

Q3: The Core Strategy can be read here: https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/planning-policy/planning-policy-information/local-plan-and-planning-policies. It can be seen that it was determined that the new developments would require one additional secondary school (in the Arborfield SDL), and 7 additional primary schools (2 in each SDL, except the North Wokingham SDL where one new school would be required.

Q2 and Q3: A document summarising the school place needs generated by each by SDL is appended. This document was an examination document for the Core Strategy (i.e. a document submitted in support of the Core Strategy in the formal examination by a planning inspector, required before the council could formally adopt the strategy).

Q3: The Core Strategy makes a number of references to the expected demographic future of the borough. For example Section 2.3 makes reference to the South East Plan and its requirement for an additional 623 homes per annum in the borough. This is backed in Section 2.15 by the statement that the “Forecast work undertaken for the Berkshire Joint Strategic Planning Unit by the Greater London Assembly indicates that the population of the borough will increase to 164,118 in 2026, with 70,033 households”. In other words, the Core Strategy proposals for additional housing (and additional school places) are there to meet the needs generated by a rising population. Although the national arrangements around development planning have changed, (the South East Plan was largely abolished in 2013), the requirement to ensure there are sufficient homes (and by extension, supporting infrastructure including school capacity) to meet anticipated population needs.

Q3: The Core Strategy provided a framework for the development in the borough, but individual developments can only proceed through planning consents. Up until 2014 the council secured developer contributions through S106 agreements. Outside of the SDLs these agreements sought payments to meet needs generated by rising numbers of children. These were based on calculations that took account of new home survey data (to determine child yields) and school building construction costs. Note that while S106 agreements outside the SDL areas do not constitute firm plans for development, they (with very few exceptions) generate resources that can be deployed flexibly, to meet needs in an area, and so are part of the council’s plans for new capacity delivery. Most developments outside SDL areas are too small to justify land being reserved to create additional school capacity.

While, the notes, guidance and original survey data are no longer available, an internal document setting out survey results and implications for new school delivery is appended.

Details of these agreements can be found on the council’s website, as part of the set of documents associated with each planning consent, and can be accessed here: https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/planning/existing-planning-applications. The major developments section of the council’s website includes maps of new developments, with the planning reference numbers. It can be accessed here: https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/major-developments.

The sections below set out how the council plans education provision in response to new housing and other factors, and how this process interacts with the council’s development planning responsibilities.

On 27th January 2014 the council adopted its initial Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) charging schedule (link here: https://wokingham.moderngov.co.uk/Data/Executive/201401271800/Agenda/264183.pdf). CIL is a tax on development, and the council is able to use its discretion concerning how CIL is deployed to support development. In its initial form CIL required a list of types of works that could be funded wholly or in part by CIL, known as the Regulation 123 list. This listed education as being within scope of CIL funding, excluding land for provision of education within SDL areas (meaning that the provision of land in an SDL for a new school would be achieved through S106 agreements, but funding for new premises would come from CIL). For most development this separates the planning consent process from the process of planning how education will be delivered.

The council plans education infrastructure (including new schools and extensions to schools) through periodic phase specific strategies and project specific reports. Their purpose is to ensure the council is compliant with its place sufficiency duty under the Education Act 1996. These strategies take account of new development, but are separate to the development planning process. The project specific reports deal with the delivery of new infrastructure, including new schools in the SDL areas (where all development is planned to support the delivery of new homes).

A list of strategies and other school place planning reports is appended (with links to the various reports). While housing delivery is an important factor, migration into established communities and birth rate variability are as important.

4. What was the size of the local health services provision in the parish in 1992 and any increase to date, measured in terms of the number of GP practices, doctors and nursing numbers and of any dental practices, dentists and hygienists located in the parish areas.
We do not hold this information. This information may be held on the Office of National Statistics website.