Nottinghamshire County Council plans to pause school building projects in Rushcliffe after warning that a shortfall in government capital funding is putting pressure on school places across the county.
A report due to go before the council’s Cabinet on 16 July says the authority expected a higher allocation of Department for Education Basic Need capital funding this year. The funding is used to help councils provide enough school places where pupil numbers are rising.
The report says the allocation now available is not enough to allow the council’s School Places Programme to proceed as planned. Cabinet is being asked to approve pausing a number of projects while officers escalate the issue with the Department for Education and seek further funding.
In south Nottinghamshire, the most significant secondary school project affected is the proposed expansion of South Nottinghamshire Academy, in the Rushcliffe East planning area.
The report says the academy had completed stage two design work for an expansion, but the project is now proposed to be put on immediate hold. The school has already secured an additional 30 temporary Year 7 places for 2026/27 and 2027/28, allowing it to admit 180 children against a published admission number of 150. However, the report says this was expected to lead to a permanent increase from 2028/29, and those additional permanent places will not now be available if the scheme remains paused.
Lady Bay Primary School is also listed among the projects to be put on hold. The report says pausing that expansion will affect primary places available in the locality.
Plans have been submitted for a major upgrade at Lady Bay Primary School in West Bridgford, including the construction of a new two-storey teaching block and a modular building at Adbolton Lane Playing Fields.
The proposals, submitted on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council, relate to two sites used by the school: the main school site on Trent Boulevard and the school’s playing fields on Adbolton Lane.
At the main school, the existing single-storey modular teaching block would be demolished and replaced with a permanent two-storey building. The current modular building accommodates early years classrooms but, according to the planning statement, is reaching the end of its functional life and no longer meets modern education requirements.
The proposed new block would provide four classrooms, toilets, storage, circulation space and external free-flow learning space. The documents state that the building must be completed and ready for occupation by 31 July 2028, allowing the existing temporary unit to be removed.
The report identifies West Bridgford, Rushcliffe East and East Leake among 12 formal planning areas where there is expected to be an insufficiency of secondary school places in September 2027 and September 2028. Other areas named are Hucknall, Worksop, Harworth, Retford, Broxtowe South, Carlton, Mansfield, Warsop and Rainworth.
Across Nottinghamshire, the council warns that around 28 Year 7 pupils could be left without a school place in September 2027 if the situation is not resolved, with similar shortages in the following two years. It says that would risk breaching the council’s statutory duty to provide enough school places.
The report also says around 338 pupils could have to be transported to schools outside their local area and may not be able to attend their parents’ or carers’ first-choice school.
A table in the report sets out potential transport implications for 2027/28 if additional places are not created. For south Nottinghamshire, it identifies projected shortfalls of 11 places in the South Wolds Academy planning area, 20 in the South Nottinghamshire Academy planning area, 50 in East Leake and 45 in West Bridgford. The estimated annual transport costs listed for those areas are £39,233 for South Wolds Academy, £71,333 for South Nottinghamshire Academy, £178,333 for East Leake and £160,500 for West Bridgford.
The council says demand for secondary places has risen sharply in recent years. The number of Year 7 pupils on roll in Nottinghamshire schools rose by 10 per cent between January 2018 and January 2026, from 8,703 to 9,578. Projections suggest demand for Year 7 places is likely to remain high for the next few years before beginning to decline slowly from the 2029/30 academic year.
Since 2022, the council says it has created around 1,700 additional secondary places, including about 330 Year 7 places, through capital projects. It has also worked with schools and multi-academy trusts to provide extra Year 7 places within existing buildings. For the 2026/27 admission year, schools have offered 303 additional Year 7 places above their published admission numbers.
However, the report says further places are still needed in some areas and that several capital schemes cannot now proceed within the required timescales unless more funding is secured.
The council says the situation has also been affected by how school capacity is assessed nationally. The Department for Education is carrying out a Net Capacity Assessment programme, intended to identify available space and support decisions on school admission numbers. The council says there are inconsistencies in some assessments and that 15 of Nottinghamshire’s 45 secondary schools have told the authority they dispute the DfE figures.
According to the report, the DfE figures indicate Nottinghamshire secondary schools have a statutory-year-group capacity of 55,394 places. The council intends to report a lower figure of 52,744 places in its next school capacity return, creating a difference of 2,650 places. The report says a higher capacity figure can imply that more places are available than can actually be accessed within school buildings, which can then reduce the Basic Need funding allocated to the council.
The report also refers to Toot Hill Academy in the Rushcliffe East planning area. It says a DfE assessment incorrectly included buildings in extremely poor condition, which were later described by the DfE School Rebuilding Programme project lead as not fit for use. The DfE had indicated a total school capacity of 2,131 places, but the council says the rebuild was planned at 1,850 places. To secure what it describes as a true like-for-like rebuild, the council says it has had to fund the place shortfall from existing Basic Need allocations. The report says the rebuild will not be completed before September 2029 at the earliest.
The legal section of the report says the council has a statutory duty under the Education Act 1996 to provide sufficient school places. It also has a duty to provide free transport to eligible children who live outside the statutory walking distance to the nearest suitable school. The report warns that cancelling key projects risks the council breaching its sufficiency duties, increasing home-to-school transport costs and placing greater pressure on school transport services.
The financial comments say the School Places Programme already includes the council’s 2026/27 and 2027/28 Basic Need grant allocations and relevant section 106 contributions, but that this is still not enough to carry out all identified capital projects. No further Basic Need grant announcements are expected from the Department for Education until spring 2027.
Cabinet is being asked to note the concerns, approve the pause on the projects outlined in the report, and allow officers to escalate the issue with the Department for Education to seek the funding needed to complete the paused schemes and provide enough school places in Nottinghamshire.
If approved, the pauses would not remove the council’s legal duty to provide places. In practical terms, the report says more children could be offered schools outside their local area, fewer families may receive their first preference, and transport costs could rise if pupils have to travel further.
