THE four Oldham schools which are set to benefit from a £60 million cash injection have been announced.

Failsworth School, North Chadderton, The Radclyffe and Hathershaw Technology College will be the first schools to be funded by a PFI (Private Finance Initiative) scheme, councillors decided last week.

But the Lib Dem opposition has criticised Labour for concentrating the money on one side of the borough and stifling debate.

Under PFI, private consortiums, usually involving large construction companies, are contracted to both design and build a new project and manage it. The building is not publicly owned, but leased by the council. Oldham Council's original bid for £90 million PFI money would have seen six schools rebuilt or refurbished in the first phase.

At an Overview and Scrutiny Committee on June 30, Failsworth, Chadderton and The Radclyffe were earmarked as priorities because they are split site schools. Hathershaw was also chosen, taking the total to £64 million, while the other two schools, Counthill and Saddleworth were dropped from the plans.

Cllr Ann Wingate, shadow cabinet member for Lifelong Learning, said: "Firstly, the money will be spent on one side of the borough only, the west side, which is not good for community cohesion.

"My group would have preferred to have a school on the eastern side of the borough, Counthill, for example. This is the first main investment in secondary education in Oldham for 30 years, and it should have been distributed as fairly as possible. Secondly, the choice of the three split site schools was made with no room for discussion."

Cllr Hugh McDonald, Cabinet Member for Lifelong Learning, said the £4 million would come out of the council's budget over many years, so its impact would be minimal.

He added: "It was important to deal with the three split-site schools, and get them into cohesive units. There was then £8m left for a fourth school, and Hathershaw was recommended as being the most in need. The heads of both Counthill and Saddleworth have agreed."

He added that in phase two of the funding, money would be deployed across town boundaries.

Tweet