Sandwell awaits fate of BSF programme

THE fate of the Building Schools for the Future programme in a West Midlands borough hangs in the balance following a weeklong court hearing in London.

In December, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, along with five other local authorities, won the right to challenge the Government’s decision last July to change the £55bn BSF scheme.

BSF will see improvements or brand new buildings at schools across the country over the next few years but, of the 22 originally planned projects in Sandwell, only 10 were given the green light to proceed by the Department for Education.

A further nine, said to be worth £138m, were stopped and the final three, all academies, were tabled for discussion.

Sandwell QC Nigel Giffin put forward the council’s case at a five-day High Court hearing last week.

He said the Government had failed to consult on its decision and had not taken into account of all the relevant facts.

Mr Griffin also said BSF schools would greatly improve access for disabled pupils.
Judge Mr Justice Holman will now weight up the legal arguments before giving a ruling.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The Secretary of State terminated the Building Schools for the Future programme because it was unnecessarily complex, poor value for money and unaffordable in the economic climate.

“In none of the cases are these local authorities challenging the wider decision to end BSF.

“We are robustly defending the claims made by the local authorities and believe we have a strong case.

“The Coalition Government has been clear that the end of BSF is not the end of school rebuilding.”

The other councils involved in the hearing were Notttingham, Newham, Waltham Forest, Luton and Kent. A decision is not expected before next week at the earliest.