MUGA
Since the permission for development, we have been investigating grants and other funding options for the pitch.
We are very keen to make rapid progress towards building the long-delayed facility for the children of our school and wider community.
We are grateful to everyone for participation in the consultation process.
Plan
Our desire for the MUGA (Multi Use Games Area) has always been three-fold, each point having high importance on the impact of this project.
- Improved, safe sports facility for our children to learn and thrive
- Much needed revenue to support the broad and balanced curriculum we offer at Bonneville
- To encourage healthy and active living amongst our community
Background
In May 2018 Bonneville submitted its first planning application for the MUGA to the Local Authority with a third party.
Original plan:
- Third party full funding of the build up to £100k
- Exclusive hire for 5 aside football to third party – free premises for 2 years
- From Year 3, £1k income per month to the school increasing by £100 per year
A Resident Consultation Meeting took place on 5th June 2018. Local residents proposed paying £100k cost for MUGA build, providing the school with a monthly income and negotiated terms around restrictive use. Following this, the school withdrew the application from the Local Authority to enter negotiation with the local residents.
Initial proposal agreement, in principle, with local residents (May 2018 to October 2018)
- £100k donation
- £700 monthly donation (24- month notice period)
- Agree the specification for the facility with the Resident Group
- Negotiate the choice of lighting with the Resident Group
- Hire to primary school aged groups
- Up to 12 weekend hires/school usage per year
- Hire during periods that the school is open, including during Holiday Scheme dates
- Residents provide supporting statement with the planning application
Latest discussions were suggesting (February 2019 to October 2019)
- The Residents have raised £57k to donate as the final amount
- No lighting
- Further negotiations on the monthly donation amount to the school
- Restrict the school’s ability to hire
- Further restrictions on weekend use
- Further restrictions on timings
October 2019
Three weeks before the planning application was submitted, we were informed by local residents that we would receive their final proposal to the school.
After much delay, we decided to submit the application to the Local Authority. Residents wanted the detail in the planning application to reflect the school’s agreement with them, despite the application being funded up to £30k by FAB. We believe the school’s agreement with local residents and the planning application should be two separate things.
Current Points Raised Through Consultation
- Removal of Trees- the trees in this area of the playground have proved hard to maintain and a health and safety risk for our pupils and staff due to fruit dropping. We plan on developing the back playground and planting more trees
- Lighting – for the vast majority of the year the KS1 playground is dark from 4pm limiting its use for after-school activities. The recommendation for the lighting beams to stand at 7 feet is to reduce the light spill onto residential properties. We have been informed that there is more light spill from lamp posts than will come from the MUGA, however should we find an affordable, alternative solution, we will pursue that
- Hire Terms – we plan on providing hire for school age groups
- Hours of Use – the premises will be used by the school between 8am to 6pm to cover our after-school clubs programme, as is currently the case. The request for hire use will be 2 hours between 6 – 8pm only
Engagement with Local Residents has included site walks, regular meetings with governors and the headteacher and access to all surveys including lighting and noise.
The Planning Application
Owned and funded by the school through FAB. This outlines the maximum request by the school, granted by the Local Authority.
Our Options
1) Head of Terms or Acceptable Use Agreement
This document will outline our agreement with the Local Residents, enabling further restrictions within what is granted by the Local Authority. This would come with funding from the residents.
We will invite further discussions with the residents once we have the outcome of the planning application.
2) Source other Funding Opportunities
Our Bid Writing Working Group have sourced many other funding opportunities and are actively sourcing funding for the project.
We are keen to move things forward and find an acceptable solution working with our local residents, which is why our application is no longer in conjunction with a third party having exclusive hire and use of our facility.
We endeavor to keep relations with our neighbours as positive as possible, no matter where the funding comes from.
Let’s make it happen!