There is a risk hundreds of Nottinghamshire pupils could be left without a school place in their local area following ‘significantly less’ funding from the Government.

Nottinghamshire Council has highlighted a concerning picture for how many secondary school places will be available from September 2027.

The Reform-led authority says in September 2027 and September 2028 there will be an ‘insufficiency’ of school places in Hucknall, Worksop, Harworth, Retford, Broxtowe South, Carlton, Mansfield, Warsop, Rainworth, East Leake, Rushcliffe East and West Bridgford, which could result in around 338 pupils having to be transported out of their local area to access a school.

In a cabinet report from July, the council says its pot of money from the Government that goes towards ensuring it can provide enough school places in the area is ‘significantly less’ this year, leaving it in a vulnerable position.

There is a risk that hundreds of Nottinghamshire pupils could be left without a school place in their local area following “significantly less” funding from the Government.

placeholder image — There is a risk that hundreds of Nottinghamshire pupils could be left without a school place in their local area following “significantly less” funding from the Government.

Councils rely on Government funding to support their school expansion projects, where authorities submit current pupil projections based on planning area to the Department for Education (DfE) each year to help these decisions, but funding settlements are made over several years and do not always align with the current needs of an area.

Between January 2018 and January 2026, the number of year seven pupils in Nottinghamshire increased by 10 per cent, from 8,703 to 9,578, and recent projections suggest this demand is ‘likely to remain high’ until slowly declining from the 2029 to 2030 academic year.

The council has already made moves to help with this high demand, creating 1,700 additional secondary places since 2022, assisting an extra 303 year seven places opening up for 2026 to 2027 within existing school buildings and by pushing forward with school building projects set to ‘boost’ secondary school capacity for 2027 to 2030.

Due to the reduced funding, striking figures from the cabinet’s report currently suggest approximately 28 year seven pupils in the county could be ‘totally without’ a school place in September 2027, with ‘similar shortages’ anticipated for the following two years.

Speaking at July’s cabinet meeting, Coun Rory Green (Ref), cabinet member for children and families, called the halting of the projects a ‘sensible’ decision and means the authority is not ‘just walking blindly’ into them without the needed funding, adding: “A pause means ‘pause’, it doesn’t mean ‘no, never again’.”

Coun James Walker-Gurley (Ref), cabinet member for economic development and asset management, said there was ‘nothing to panic about right now’, adding: “In September next year, we may potentially fall short of places, so that gives us the summer holidays next year as well to get everything ready, so we are being proactive.

“We’re working again as members to lobby MPs, we’re doing everything we should be in a proactive manner.”

Coun Mick Barton (Ref), council leader, has written to the Education Secretary to lobby for more Government funding to ensure the building projects to increase secondary capacity can get back on track, to help avoid shortfalls in pupil places coming to fruition.

He wrote: “The current position in Nottinghamshire is that the cost of required places across the county is presently outstripping the available funding.

"We expected a further allocation of basic need funding this year, which was not forthcoming.

“If left unaddressed, the downstream effects could see impacts on the sufficiency of school places, with fewer parents obtaining their first preference school for their child.

“We have been in dialogue with your officials about funding but this is yet to yield results.

"I would point out that we have an excellent track record in school building and refurbishment, with a valued and experienced team and supply chain.”

In a statement to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Wayne Bexton, the council’s director of economy, environment and assets, said: “This year we did not get a further allocation of funding as expected, therefore we currently do not have the funding available to complete five projects at four schools/academies we had planned, worth over £10m.

“We have no other option than to put these expansion projects on hold.”

Dr Orlaith Green, the council’s temporary director of education, learning and inclusion, said the authority is ‘urgently lobbying’ the Government for funding.

She said: “We have made the relevant schools and academies aware of the situation and recommend they write to their MP and DfE to describe the impact this could have for their schools, pupils and wider community.

“In Nottinghamshire to date, we have a strong track record providing school places, with the majority of families being offered their first choice school place each year – we want to do everything we can to ensure this continues.

“We remain ready to deliver all these projects if and when funding is made available to us.”

The DfE has been contacted for comment.