Education Secretary Michael Gove axes cash for school rebuilds

10:50am Thursday 8th July 2010 in News By John Geoghegan

SCHOOLS in south Essex will miss out on more than £100million of Government funding after a nationwide project to rebuild and refurbish schools was axed.

The £55billion Building Schools for the Future programme to revamp every secondary school in England was cut by Education Secretary Michael Gove as the coalition Government tries to slash public spending.

The Appleton School and Glenwood School, both in Benfleet, Deanes School and King John, both in Thundersley, Mayflower High School, Billericay, The Billericay School and Beauchamps High School, Wickford, will all have their funding pulled.

But Castle View and Cornelius Vermuyden, both on Canvey, East Basildon Academy, De La Salle, in Basildon, James Hornsby, in Laindon and Belfairs, in Leigh, have all survived the cull.

They were promised the money from the last government in an earlier phase of the programme, and will still get the cash to finish the refurbishments, some of which are well under way.

Two academies, Greensward, in Hockley and Ormiston Park, in Thurrock, will be reviewed individually along with all 123 academies hoping to benefit from the scheme.

Deanes had hoped to get £40million from the programme for improved facilities, including a new sports hall and an all-weather outdoor sports pitch.

Glenwood Special School was also to move from Rushbottom Lane, Thundersley, to join Deanes in Daws Heath Road, in a new, modern premises.

King John, Appleton and Glenwood had been earmarked for £21million of improvements each.

Castle Point’s Tory MP Rebecca Harris said: “I’m incredibly disappointed. The schools that missed out all had a compelling need.

“I understand the state of public finances and there’s no money left, but I will be lobbying desperately for whatever we can get.”

Across the country, 715 schools will see their rebuilding projects cancelled, but 706 schools where work is ready to begin will still go ahead.

Mr Gove said the programme had been beset by “massive overspends, tragic delays, botched construction projects and needless bureaucracy” and had “failed to meet any of its targets”.

Comments (6)

12:16pm Thu 8 Jul 10

Ian P says...

Clearly the last Government had promised non-existent money to support this programme, in a desperate hope of holding on to power. One wonders what would have happened had the electorate not have woken-up in time and they had been voted in again.
Clearly the last Government had promised non-existent money to support this programme, in a desperate hope of holding on to power. One wonders what would have happened had the electorate not have woken-up in time and they had been voted in again. Ian P

12:45pm Thu 8 Jul 10

DannyK86 says...

'There is no money' is an all too convenient excuse for the Tories to carry out their true agenda and cut frontline services wherever possible.
'There is no money' is an all too convenient excuse for the Tories to carry out their true agenda and cut frontline services wherever possible. DannyK86

2:01pm Thu 8 Jul 10

VANGE LES says...

Ian P wrote:
Clearly the last Government had promised non-existent money to support this programme, in a desperate hope of holding on to power. One wonders what would have happened had the electorate not have woken-up in time and they had been voted in again.
The Labour party were prepared to spend money on working-class schools, whereas the Tory party will spend as little as possible on the working classes , as their budget shows.
[quote][p][bold]Ian P[/bold] wrote: Clearly the last Government had promised non-existent money to support this programme, in a desperate hope of holding on to power. One wonders what would have happened had the electorate not have woken-up in time and they had been voted in again.[/p][/quote]The Labour party were prepared to spend money on working-class schools, whereas the Tory party will spend as little as possible on the working classes , as their budget shows. VANGE LES

3:26pm Thu 8 Jul 10

152 says...

I feel ashamed to have voted Liberal Democrat.
I feel ashamed to have voted Liberal Democrat. 152

3:44pm Thu 8 Jul 10

gardenman says...

The tories and Lib Dems are already an absolute disgrace choosing to pick on the poor,disabled and any other easy targets to help bail out this country.Were all in this together,Cameron says.Well its not the underprivaleged that have got us into this mess,its 20 years of idiotic politics and politicians lining there own pockets.If the english people had any spine left they should rise up and demonstrate but we allknow this will not be the case.
The tories and Lib Dems are already an absolute disgrace choosing to pick on the poor,disabled and any other easy targets to help bail out this country.Were all in this together,Cameron says.Well its not the underprivaleged that have got us into this mess,its 20 years of idiotic politics and politicians lining there own pockets.If the english people had any spine left they should rise up and demonstrate but we allknow this will not be the case. gardenman

12:25am Fri 9 Jul 10

Ivanna Goodhump says...

DannyK86 wrote:
'There is no money' is an all too convenient excuse for the Tories to carry out their true agenda and cut frontline services wherever possible.
You really are a deluded individual.

Labour promised too much and was unable to back up their empty promises with money.

You are one of those people who have fallen for the Labour ideal that it's not what goes on inside the school that's important but what the school looks like.

Shiny new schools and classrooms do nothing for educational standards unless the hard work is put in to improve how and what is taught.

Labour again conned a generation of students by renaming old Polytechnics and Colleges "Universities" without any thought as to whether the courses taught are of any value to employers.

Now we have students leaving mediocre Universities with mediocre degrees in mediocre subjects, 30k of debt and joining the same queue for the Receptionist jobs as the GCSE students.

It was a rebranding exercise in name only, akin to just renaming all the Pound Shops "Harrods" and expecting everything to change without any other input.
[quote][p][bold]DannyK86[/bold] wrote: 'There is no money' is an all too convenient excuse for the Tories to carry out their true agenda and cut frontline services wherever possible.[/p][/quote]You really are a deluded individual. Labour promised too much and was unable to back up their empty promises with money. You are one of those people who have fallen for the Labour ideal that it's not what goes on inside the school that's important but what the school looks like. Shiny new schools and classrooms do nothing for educational standards unless the hard work is put in to improve how and what is taught. Labour again conned a generation of students by renaming old Polytechnics and Colleges "Universities" without any thought as to whether the courses taught are of any value to employers. Now we have students leaving mediocre Universities with mediocre degrees in mediocre subjects, 30k of debt and joining the same queue for the Receptionist jobs as the GCSE students. It was a rebranding exercise in name only, akin to just renaming all the Pound Shops "Harrods" and expecting everything to change without any other input. Ivanna Goodhump

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