A £45 MILLION funding boost promised to Warrington by the previous government to rebuild or refurbish four high schools has been withdrawn by the coalition government.
In addition, plans for two new special schools have also been put on hold.
Kath O’Dwyer, (pictured) executive director for Children and Young Peoples Services for the borough council said: 
“We are very disappointed that the six schools we had identified for Building Schools for the Future investment have been confirmed to be within the 715 schools nationally that will no longer be rebuilt or refurbished through this scheme.
” We await with interest further information from central government regarding their plans for a review of capital spending in education which was referred to in yesterday’s statement.
“In the meantime providing the very best education and opportunities for all our young people remains a key priority for Warrington Borough Council and our schools and we will continue to work together to achieve this aim.”
Coun Sheila Woodyatt, executing member for Education and Young People, added: “This is obviously very disappointing news but we will continue to do our very best for the young people of Warrington.”
The four schools identified for rebuilding or major refurbishment in Warrington were William Beamont High, Lysander High at Padgate, Penketh High and Sir Thomas Boteler CE High.
In addition, proposals had recently been put forward for rebuilding Green Lane and Fox Wood special schools on the site of Woolston High School. This project is now also on hold.
The new Culcheth High School, which has just been completed, was funded by the BSF programme.
Announcing the cut backs, education secretary Michael Gove said it would have been irresponsible for the government to continue with the BSF programme which was unnecessarily bureaucratic and wasteful.
He accused the previous government was embarking on an unrealistic programme.
But he said individual school projects which had reached an advanced stage would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and could continue later.
£45 million school projects axed
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
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this is what happens when you get a tory /lib goverment
It has long been known that there is no correlation whatsoever between new school buildings and good educational achievement. The new school building of Stockton Heath Primary is evidence of this. For years it was one of the best schools in town but once rebuilt went into special measures and is still now only achieving a ‘satisfactory’ standard. High standards of educational achievement are found in relation to the quality of teaching staff and the curriculum not in bricks and mortar.
The main benefits of the ‘building new schools for the future’ programme seemed to be in ensuring the livelihoods of building consultants, developers and contractors etc. As the short lifespan of these buildings meant that by the time the last buildings in the countrywide progamme were thrown up those that had been first built would be ready to be replaced. Also, local authorities were able to take advantage of the BSF programme through the closure of ‘surplus’ schools and the subsequent acquisition of valuable land assets for profitable resale.
Each government seems to have it’s own ideas on which industries to focus upon to ‘keep the country going’…………..which industries will this government focus on? …and will it prove worse?
Remember that all of this promised money didn’t actually exist and would have come from either more private sector investment or typical labour taxes.