Hundreds of school building projects are being scrapped as England’s national school redevelopment scheme is axed by the government.
Education Secretary Michael Gove said 719 school revamps already signed up to the scheme would not now go ahead.
A further 123 academy schemes are to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
His department has been reviewing Labour’s Building Schools for the Future scheme since the election.
It concluded that all local authority schemes that have not reached financial close would not go ahead, saving “billions” of pounds.
Mr Gove said: “The Building Schools for the Future scheme has been responsible for about one third of all this department’s capital spending.
“But throughout its life it has been characterised by massive overspends, tragic delays, botched construction projects and needless bureaucracy.”
“dysfunctional”
He called the scheme “dysfunctional” and “unnecessarily bureaucratic”, with nine “meta stages”.
He added: “It is perhaps no surprise that it can take almost three years to negotiate the bureaucratic process of BSF before a single builder is engaged or brick is laid.”
Some 180 schools have been rebuilt or revamped since the programme was introduced by Labour in 2004. And building is about to start in 231 schools.
But 1,100 schools have already signed up to the scheme, investing time, energy and money into drawing up plans for redevelopment, but have not reached financial close.
Originally all of England’s 3,500 schools were to be revamped by 2023. The plan was to replace out-dated buildings with facilities that suit modern education.
(source BBC News)
