WIREDGOV

- Buckinghamshire; Cornwall; Gateshead; Lincolnshire; Oxfordshire and Sutton get green-light for latest round of BSF projects -

- Ministers hail "major landmark" in BSF with more than 100 local authorities now in groundbreaking programme -

- Birmingham, Cumbria and Gloucestershire first in line to enter the programme next -

Six more local authorities have been given the green-light to join the groundbreaking Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, Schools Secretary Ed Balls and Schools Minister Vernon Coaker announced today.

Mr Balls said that £418.3m would be invested across Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Gateshead, Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire and Sutton - as part of the once-in-a-generation programme to rebuild or refurbish England's entire secondary school estate.

It means the six can start now planning in detail to fast-track their most urgent building projects or deprived areas, far earlier than originally planned - with capital investment released from 2012-13.

The rest of each area's schools will be rebuilt or refurbished with the vast majority of local authorities due to finish their full BSF programmes by 2020 and the remaining projects in the closing stages.

Mr Balls confirmed that Birmingham, Cumbria and Gloucestershire came close to being selected - but with some extra work in certain areas they are first in line to enter the programme at the next available opportunity.

All proposals were rigorously assessed by the Government's school-building agency, Partnerships for Schools - to make sure their long-term plans were robust and will transform education standards across their areas.

Today's announcement keeps up BSF's rapid acceleration in the last 12 months - with 24 projects getting approval this financial year, including 20 local authorities new to BSF and the number of open BSF schools more than trebling since the end of 2008 to 149

Overall, 101 local authorities are now in BSF and 50 have now reached financial close on their projects, with 1000 schools in the pipeline.

By next year at least 200 schools benefiting from BSF investment will be opening annually - on top of the 4000 new and refurbished schools and eight-fold real-terms increase in capital funding since 1997.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls said:

"BSF is the most ambitious public building programme for decades. This is outstanding news for these areas - meaning that pupils, teachers, parents and communities will reap the benefits of high-quality facilities for decades to come. The first half of BSF rightly targeted areas with the highest level of need but today's announcement gives these six areas the scope to target pockets of deprivation or underperforming schools sooner than was previously possible.

"These are challenging times when every penny of taxpayer's investment is rightly scrutinized - but we are right to continue unprecedented capital investment in schools and sweeping away the legacy of underinvestment and poor quality buildings."

Schools Minister Vernon Coaker said:

"Today is a major landmark for BSF now that more than 100 local authorities are actively designing, building and opening new and refurbished schools.

"BSF's progress is undeniable with building momentum rapidly month-by-month, term-by-term with superb facilities across the country transforming the way that teachers teach and young people learn."

The preliminary revised national BSF programme was announced in March 2009, with all projects only getting the go-ahead after rigorous evaluation by Partnerships for Schools.

Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools, Tim Byles said:

"With over 130,000 pupils and 12,000 teachers already benefitting BSF investment the length and breadth of the country, today' s announcement will ensure that even more young people and staff are given the schools that they deserve over the coming years.

"As well as delivering the new schools and facilities that local communities need, BSF is also welcome news for local employment, supporting tens of thousands of jobs on the ground in the construction and related industries.

"For the last three years BSF has met or exceeded all key delivery targets, and we are now seeing a convergence of perception and reality - with around 90% of all local authorities and private sector companies involved in BSF agreeing that the programme is now delivering.

"With over two thirds of all local authorities engaged in the BSF, we look forward to working with this latest cohort of local authorities to help deliver schools fit for the 21st century, and to ensure that taxpayers get maximum value from every education pound spent."

Six projects were approved in July last year and a further 12 announced last November - with the Chancellor setting out in last autumn's Pre Budget Report that another wave of projects would be announced this spring.

Editor's Notes

1. The individual indicative capital allocations for the six BSF projects announced today are:

Local Authority Indicative Amount Initial Schools to Benefit from Investment

Buckinghamshire
£80m (£73.5m + £7.3m for ICT)
- Chesham Park Community College

- Burnham Upper

- Mandeville School (Aylesbury)

- The Grange Aylesbury

- Buckingham Upper School

- Furze Down (SEN) (Winslow)

Cornwall
£69m (£62.6m + £6.5m for ICT)
- Camborne Science & Community College

- Humphry Davy School (Penzance)

- Poltair School and Enterprise College (St Austell)

- Redruth School

- Pool Business & Enterprise College (Redruth)

- Curnow SEN School

Gateshead (repeat)
£80m (£71.6m + £8.6m for ICT)
- Whickham School

- Ryton School

- St. Thomas More School (Gateshead)

- Joseph Swan School (Gateshead)

Lincolnshire
£70m (£62.1m + £7.6m for ICT)
- John Spendluffe Technology College (Alford)

- The George Farmer Technology College (Holbeach)

- Boston Haven High

- Boston Grammar & Boston High

- Spalding Gleed Boys & Spalding Gleed Girls

Oxfordshire
£62m (£56.3 + £6.0m for ICT)
- Banbury School

- Larkmead School (Abingdon)

- Cheney School (Oxford)

- Iffley Mead (Oxford)

Sutton
£56m (£51.6 + £4.6m ICT)
- Carshalton Boys Sports College

- Carshalton High School for Girls

- Wandle Valley School (SEN)

- Hospital and Tuition Service (PRU) (Wandle Valley)

- The Limes College (PRU) (Sutton)

Total
£418.3m

Contact Details

Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk