Axed BSF pleas fall on deaf ear
9:03am Thursday 2nd September 2010 in News
FRUSTRATED town hall chiefs last night revealed they have made several attempts to get Bolton’s axed Building Schools for the Future programme back on track.
But their attempts to explain the borough’s unique position on BSF have fallen on deaf ears every time.
Cllr Ebrahim Adia, executive member for children’s services, said he was frustrated town hall bosses had not yet been granted an audience with Education Secretary Michael Gove, or any of his ministers.
He said: “We have made several attempts to set up a time to go down and speak with ministers about our BSF bid, but we have not been given the chance.
It is very frustrating because we feel that Bolton is a unique case, but the government seem to be saying that only those under construction will be going ahead.”
Seven Bolton schools — Bolton Muslim Girls’ School, Westhoughton High School, Sharples School and North Pupil Referral Unit, Smithills School, Little Lever School, Ladybridge School and its neighbour Rumworth Special School — would have been rebuilt, or completely transformed, under the £83 million BSF programme.
But despite making a joint bid with neighbouring Blackburn with Darwen, Bolton saw its hopes dashed by Mr Gove. Bolton was in a unique position because it joined forces with Blackburn with Darwen when that authority was already well on with its bid.
That meant Bolton’s application was put together in a different order to the norm and fell short of meeting the new government’s requirements for going ahead with the scheme.
The government has suggested there may be some cash available for new school buildings following the autumn spending review.
But Cllr Adia fears any settlement would fall well short of what BSF would have delivered.
He said: “I do think that whatever settlement might be available for new school building would be some way short of the investment which would have been made with BSF.
“The other concern is that BSF was much more than just a capital building programme. It was about raising the hopes and aspirations of our young children.”
He added that the council would continue to lobby the government and could not rule out seeking compensation for the £2million the council spent on putting the BSF bid together.
The Department for Education declined to comment.
