(1)As soon as may be after the date of the commencement of this Part of this Act, every local education authority shall estimate the immediate and prospective needs of their area, having regard to the provisions of this Act and of any regulations made thereunder and to the functions relating to primary and secondary education thereby conferred on them, and shall, within one year after that date or within such extended period as the Minister may in any particular case allow, prepare and submit to the Minister a plan (in this Act referred to as a " development plan ") in such form as the Minister may direct showing the action which the authority propose should be taken for securing that there shall be sufficient primary and secondary schools available for their area and the successive measures by which it is proposed to accomplish that purpose.
(2)A local education authority, before submitting to the Minister the development plan for their area, shall take into consideration all schools available for providing primary and secondary education for pupils in the area, and the development plan for the area shall:—
(a)specify which of the said schools the authority propose should be county primary schools, county secondary schools, voluntary primary schools, and voluntary secondary schools respectively, and, in relation to every such school, give particulars of the proposals of the authority as to the nature of the education to be provided in the school and as to the ages of the pupils to be taught therein ;
(b)specify what alterations are, by reason of the provisions of this Act or of any regulations made thereunder, required in the premises of any school proposed to be either a county school or a voluntary school, and furnish estimates of the cost of those alterations;
(c)specify what additional county schools and voluntary schools, if any, will be required for their area ;
(d)include information as to any arrangements proposed to be made with respect to schools not to be maintained by the authority, for the purpose of helping to secure that there shall be sufficient primary and secondary schools available for their area;
(e)give particulars of the arrangements made and proposed to be made by the authority for meeting the needs of pupils who have not attained the age of five years and of pupils who require special educational treatment ;
(f)give particulars of the arrangements made and proposed to be made by the authority for the provision of boarding schools ;
(g)include information as to any other measures which the authority propose to take in fulfilment of their duty to secure the provision of schools for providing primary and secondary education, such as the making of general arrangements for the transport of pupils to and from school ; and
(h)contain such other particulars of the proposals of the authority with respect to schools for providing primary and secondary education for their area as the authority think necessary, or as the Minister may require :
Provided that, if the local education authority are satisfied that any county school or voluntary school which is for the time being organised for the provision of both primary and secondary education ought to continue to be so organised, the development plan may make provision for its continuing to be so organised during such period as they think necessary.
(3)A local education authority shall, before submitting their development plan to the Minister, consult the managers or governors, or persons representing the managers or governors, of all schools other than county schools, whether within or without the area of the authority, which would in the opinion of the authority be affected by the execution of the plan, and shall, after submitting the plan to the Minister, forthwith furnish to the managers or governors of every such school such particulars relating to the plan as are sufficient to show the manner in which the school would be affected by the execution thereof.
Where a development plan has been submitted to the Minister under this section, the Minister shall, if he is of opinion that no particulars or insufficient particulars of the plan have been furnished to any person who, in his opinion, would be affected by the execution of the plan, give such directions as he considers expedient for securing that sufficient particulars are so furnished.
(4)After considering any objections to a development plan made to him within the period of two months after the date on which he is satisfied that all necessary particulars have been furnished in accordance with the last foregoing subsection, and after making in the plan such modifications, if any, as after consultation with the local education authority he considers necessary or expedient for the purpose of securing that the plan makes proper provision for the immediate and prospective needs of the area with respect to primary and secondary schools, the Minister shall approve the plan, and shall give such directions to the local education authority as he considers desirable for the purpose of giving to the managers or governors of every voluntary school affected by the plan notice of the approval thereof, and otherwise for giving publicity to the plan as approved by him.
(5)The approval of the development plan submitted by a local education authority shall not, of itself, affect the duties of the authority, but in so far as the Minister considers it expedient to impose duties upon the authority for the purpose of securing that effect will be given to the plan as approved by him, those duties shall be imposed by the local education order for the area made under the next following section.