Birmingham MP blasts wasted cash to rebuild schools

Oct 7 2010 by Jasbir Authi, Birmingham Mail

A Birmingham MP has fiercely criticised the Government for “wasting” more than £300,000 of taxpayers’ cash after it scrapped plans to rebuild two city schools.

Kings Heath Boys Secondary School and Golden Hillock School were included in the Labour Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme, which was scheduled to begin this year.

The scheme was ditched when the coalition Government came to power but it has since been revealed that Birmingham City Council had already spent more than £156,000 on preparatory work for each school.

Tony Howell, strategic director for children, young people and families, told Labour MP Roger Godsiff, that the money was spent on initial feasibility costs, professional fees, local education partnership costs and external survey fees.

The figures did not take into account the costs for council officers’ time, costs incurred directly by the schools or legal fees.

The Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme aimed to rebuild or renew nearly every secondary school in England.