Education

When is provision for education required?

For new residential development (sheltered housing and 1 bed units are exempt from primary and secondary education requirements) of 10 or more units, and where a need for primary, secondary or adult education is identified, a developer will be expected to provide or contribute towards education facilities.

Where a need exists for additional provision a contribution towards provision or upgrading of existing facilities will be sought to accommodate the need generated by the occupiers of the development.

How are facilities provided?

The education facilities to be provided or upgraded will be identified by Kent County Council, who will deliver the required improvements using financial contributions from developers.

What is the need for educational facilities?

East Kent has relatively low levels of educational attainment and skills, which contributes to economic underperformance and poverty. The concern in East Kent is that too many residents currently lack skills at the right level to respond to labour market changes:

• East Kent has about 72,800 working age residents with qualifications at or below GCSE level, of these, almost half have no qualifications at all
• Less than 25% of working age residents have qualifications to degree level, compared to 31% in the South East and the long-term national target of 40%
• Forecast labour demand to 2014 suggests that 61% of the net annual demand of 11,300 jobs in East Kent would require a skill level to at least A- standard, with only 13% being available to new entrants qualified below GCSE level.

i) Primary

In 1991 there were 9,078 primary school children were enrolled in schools in Thanet, which rose to 10,708 children in 2002 and fell to 9,665 in 2010. These numbers are forecast to rise slightly after 2010.

ii) Secondary

For pre-16 age groups, 7,195 young people were enrolled in secondary education in 1991, which rose to 9,207 in 2007. Numbers are expected to decline until 2017.

For post-16 age groups, 560 pupils stayed on into post-16 education in 1991, which rose to 13.9% in 2007 and is expected to increase to 15%.

 iii) Adult Education

There is currently spare capacity at adult education facilities. However the capacity and future requirements of adult education facilities will be assessed to determine whether there is an identified need for additional provision or upgrading of these facilities required as a direct result of the proposed development.

What is our education policy?

The Sustainable Community Strategy’s vision is that by 2030 East Kent will:

• Take pride in educational excellence
• Support ambition, achievement and skills for the workplace and beyond.

Policy S6 of the South East Plan’s aim is to:

Policy CF2 of the Thanet Local Plan sets out the council’s policy on community facility provision

next page: Adult Social Services

previous page: Leisure and Recreation

• Aim of the guide and What is required? 
• When are planning obligations required?
• Transport      
• Affordable Housing 
• Leisure and Recreation
• Education
• Adult Social Services
• What about economic viability

Development Services

E-mail: planning.services@
thanet.gov.uk

Tel: 01843 577150

or 01843 577127