The government’s decision to scrap school building plans has been thrown into further chaos after it emerged it could be left with a huge compensation bill if some of the new projects are not approved.
Education secretary Michael Gove last week controversially pulled the plug on the £55bn Building Schools For The Future programme, forcing hundreds of new secondary school building projects to be scrapped nationwide.
He was forced to apologise to the Commons, and later said sorry again to council leaders, after it emerged that the list of affected projects was strewn with errors.
Oldham council officials were told plans for its 10 secondaries and three academies had either been axed or put on hold.
But it has now emerged the council signed a £175m deal with Balfour Beatty to build the 10 secondary schools just six days before the government axe fell.
And the M.E.N. understands the Department for Education has been asked to give the green light to two of the 10 to prevent a claim for compensation from the construction giant.
Work was due to begin in January on a new Catholic school, combining Our Lady’s and St Augustine’s, in Oldham, and the partial re-building of North Chadderton School.
Oldham councillor Jack Hulme, in charge of education, said he believed ministers could approve the two projects in an effort to offset the possible compensation claim. He said: “As I understand the procurement process, it would be the government which would be liable for any penalties if the scheme does not go ahead, which is why we still have a fighting chance with these two projects.”
A Balfour Beatty spokeswoman said the firm was continuing to work with the council.
Ministers have also made a special case of the proposed buildings for 123 new academy schools, agreeing to review each on an individual basis.
And those involved in planning Oldham’s three academies believe they stand a strong chance of securing cash. A source said the government will look favourably on schemes serving areas of poverty or educational under achievement.
A decision on all five projects is expected by September.
The Department for Education said it was reviewing the legal situation in a number of councils and checking how advanced individual projects were.
In Bolton, Ebrahim Adia, the councillor in charge of schools, said the only hope was for the proposed Kearsley Academy, whose funding the government said it ‘would review’. In Manchester, Salford and Rochdale, schools will be entirely re-built. Wigan, Tameside and Warrington suffered significant cuts to building programmes. Bury, Stockport and Trafford had not yet fully joined the programme.
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if the goverment insist in cancelling all building work for schools, they should pay any penaltys from the constuction companies.If the schools are that much in need of replacement, i.e. the roof leaks when it rains, then we should comendear all the local conservatory clubs to be used as alternative class rooms, I bet they do'nt let water in when it rains.
oldham council should never have attempted to go for so many rebuilding projects of its schools in the first place.
several replacement schools where replacing perfectly good existing schools with sound buildings and high level ofsted results.
Jay B, Oldham
I don't think you quite understand the reasons behind rebuilding most of the educational secondary buildings.
It isn't simply about if the building is water proof or if the school is doing well.
Some schools are now the wrong layout to meet the ever changing curriculum, with classroom sizes being insufficient and sometimes just in the wrong place within the school itself. Schools have tended to sprawl instead of being developed with a long term plan, until they are now out of control, with regards to having the right room in the right place for the correct number of pupils.
It may also be the case that the school is simply in the wrong area for the demographics of the children and there is a push to relocate the schools instead of having, in some cases thousands of children travelling several miles to get to school.
Apart from all this, these schemes have great social benefits in that they keep people employed whilst being build, they support the economy of the area and the country as a whole and we have new schools at the end of it. Conversly, we will have all those workers sat on the dole, spend the same kind of money on hand outs and have no schools at the end of it. I know which I would prefer.
Not having a go, just trying to help explain how this programme works
Good old Tory cuts!! 1st of many no diubt. Bet most of the school rebuilding plans that are being cut are up North!!!
David Wilson
You make some sound points - the problem is this is Oldham - the borough with the Midas touch in reverse. Take the proposed Waterhead Academy on the Orb Mill site - cramped, in the wrong location and squeezing pupils from Breeze Hill & Counthill together in the name of 'Community Cohesion' is bonkers.
Oldham has failed to get its act together - Manchester has sorted out all its Secondary Schools and once again Oldham is caught out making a hash of it.
david, yes there are many economic benefits from the building of these schools. having just worked on two academies and one new secondary school in the northwest. which had benifitted from the bsf scheme. but these where already planned and organised over 3 years ago!
how come oldham has took so long it hasnt actually got any off the starting blocks?
thats because ombc are useless at everything they do.
also having worked on these new builds i can tell you they have not been designed with larger classroom sizes copared with what i rememeber when i was at school all that they seem be be incorporating into the designs are nice big wide open atriums which serve no real purpose. actually knowing that kids will be kids, these will provide perfect outlook points for budding snipers to be firing all kinds of objects below on unsuspecting victims.
Ken, i just hope that the proposed saddleworth site is scrapped altogether. there is absolutely no need for this at all. saddleworth should remain central and where it is.
and as for the orb mill site, its a similar design to mossley hollins new school but on half the size of site and will never work.
David Wilson: "Apart from all this, these schemes have great social benefits in that they keep people employed whilst being build, they support the economy of the area..."
Sorry, but that's yet another application of the broken window fallacy. There are only economic benefits to be gained if what is being built is worth building, given the cost of building it. There are no economic benefits to be gained from employing people for the sake of it.