By Richard Staines
15 July 2010
Councils are starting legal action against the government to claw back money from the axed Building Schools for the Future programme.
Sandwell Council in the West Midlands has already appointed lawyers in a bid to retrieve funding worth £200m. It emerged last week that nine schools in the borough would not now be rebuilt.
But Darren Cooper, the council’s Labour leader, told Public Finance that a legal challenge could begin as early as next week unless Education Secretary Michael Gove reverses the decision.
Cooper said: ‘I have appointed a barrister on behalf of the council because I am concerned about the transparency of the decision-making. I can see a very good case for a judicial review.
‘I am getting legal advice – if we have a good case we will take it through the [judicial] system. Obviously I have to balance that against the cost to the council – but if we don’t get those schools built we are losing just under £200m of investment.’
Nottingham City Council and Bradford Metropolitan District Council are also considering legal action.
In Nottingham, the authority is seeking advice on whether a letter it received in February from Partnerships for Schools, the body that administered BSF, amounts to a ‘robust promise of funding’.
David Mellen, the council’s portfolio holder for children’s services, said: ‘If so, then we will be taking this through official channels. We are finding out what routes to take through the courts.’
Ralph Berry, executive member for children’s services and education at Bradford, said he was ‘desperately worried’ and looking at legal action with interest. He added that he would prefer to work with any alternative school building programme proposed by the government.
Gove this week defended his decision to axe the BSF programme in the Commons. He said the bureaucracy and waste that marked the scheme were the fault of his predecessor Ed Balls.
‘It was under him [Balls] that the cost of setting up the procurement vehicle was £10m, before a single brick was laid,’ Gove said.
A review of the school rebuilding programme, tasked with identifying schools most in need of renovation, is due to report before the October Spending Review.
15 July 2010
Councils are starting legal action against the government to claw back money from the axed Building Schools for the Future programme.
Sandwell Council in the West Midlands has already appointed lawyers in a bid to retrieve funding worth £200m. It emerged last week that nine schools in the borough would not now be rebuilt.
But Darren Cooper, the council’s Labour leader, told Public Finance that a legal challenge could begin as early as next week unless Education Secretary Michael Gove reverses the decision.
Cooper said: ‘I have appointed a barrister on behalf of the council because I am concerned about the transparency of the decision-making. I can see a very good case for a judicial review.
‘I am getting legal advice – if we have a good case we will take it through the [judicial] system. Obviously I have to balance that against the cost to the council – but if we don’t get those schools built we are losing just under £200m of investment.’
Nottingham City Council and Bradford Metropolitan District Council are also considering legal action.
In Nottingham, the authority is seeking advice on whether a letter it received in February from Partnerships for Schools, the body that administered BSF, amounts to a ‘robust promise of funding’.
David Mellen, the council’s portfolio holder for children’s services, said: ‘If so, then we will be taking this through official channels. We are finding out what routes to take through the courts.’
Ralph Berry, executive member for children’s services and education at Bradford, said he was ‘desperately worried’ and looking at legal action with interest. He added that he would prefer to work with any alternative school building programme proposed by the government.
Gove this week defended his decision to axe the BSF programme in the Commons. He said the bureaucracy and waste that marked the scheme were the fault of his predecessor Ed Balls.
‘It was under him [Balls] that the cost of setting up the procurement vehicle was £10m, before a single brick was laid,’ Gove said.
A review of the school rebuilding programme, tasked with identifying schools most in need of renovation, is due to report before the October Spending Review.
