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School projects face axe under Tories claim
Date published: 19 March 2010
SCHOOL rebuilding projects across Oldham would be axed if the Conservatives win the general election, the government alleged yesterday.
Ministers leapt on an admission by Tory schools spokesman Nick Gibb that schemes that had not reached “financial close” by election day “won’t be guaranteed”.
There are 58 local education authorities where final contracts to deliver the flagship Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme — the largest since Victorian times — have not yet been signed, including Oldham.
The revelation comes as pressure grows on David Cameron’s party to explain how it plans to meet its pledge to cut the budget deficit faster than Labour.
The Conservatives badly need to free up cash for its own expensive plans to create “free schools”, to be set up by parents, charities and businesses.
That policy would allow anyone to turn an existing building — even a disused office block, or a community hall — into a school, without the need for planning permission.
Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said: “We already knew the Tories were planning to cut our school rebuilding programme by £4.5bn in areas which have not yet joined the BSF programme.
“But the admission that all areas where final contracts have not yet been signed and sealed could also see building projects cancelled means hundreds more schools than we previously thought are at risk.”
Comments
Vote Conservative!!! We don't want the new Grange school in Royton. Re-build it on it's original site.
I never thought i'd hear myself saying lets hope the tories get in. if it means the end of the academy being built in Royton then ok with me! The transfer of Grange school to Royton would mean the end of Royton as we know it. Oldham council wont be happy until the whole of the borough is a slum.Grange pupils dont want to move and we dont want the academy in Royton. why cant they just improve Our Ladies school instead ?
Intelligence at last
Ed Balls is a complete buffoon. Scare tactics from him and nothing more. Pouring millions and millions down the drain on pointless schemes that produce nothing. So what if the Tories cut funding which stops some academies being built. There are so many question marks over academies that stopping their funding isn't necessarily a bad thing to happen.
BSF isn't just about academies (and I can live with the idea of those) It's about getting all our secondary schools up to a decent modern standard. This puts getting North Chadderton on one site at risk.
Have Your Say
If this is the only way to stop Oldham's Academies then so be it. That will certainly please many people in the Borough who the Council have completely ignored on the BSF solution.
It was always a daft idea that to qualify for BSF funds the new buildings had to be in a different location. Why not refurbish rather than demolish perfectly adequate buildings.
By ROYOLD @ 19/03/2010 15:11:38