Streatham school improvements at risk
School building projects at four local schools could face the axe if the Conservatives win power, it has emerged this week.
Shadow schools minister Nick Gibb has admitted that under a Conservative government, only school building schemes at the ‘financial close’ stage of development would be guaranteed funding.
This would mean that over 750 school building projects across the country could be scrapped, which would include planned developments at St Martin in the Fields, Dunraven, La Retraite and Bishop Thomas Grant schools.
Lambeth has benefitted from more than £280 million in educational funding through the government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. The money is being used to expand school places, provide new state of the art classrooms and learning environments and facilities for students.
Last year, an innovative and environmentally-sustainable new sports hall at Dunraven School built with former shipping containers and funded through the BSF programme was opened.
Chuka Umunna, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Streatham said: “The Conservatives refuse to guarantee our programme of improving school buildings in this constituency which is deeply concerning.
“Schools in our area have been transformed since I went to school here myself in the 1980s and our excellent new school buildings and facilities have played a major part in this. If we are to provide the best education for our children, this investment must continue.”
Ed Balls said: “This revelation means hundreds of new school buildings right across the country face the axe if the Tories win the election.
“It’s particularly shocking that even building projects which are already a long way down the track could be cancelled by the Conservatives in just a matter of weeks.”
