Greeny News

Unions organise lobby of parliament as ministry struggles to explain error in list of cuts to school building projects
• Datablog: download the full list of scrapped projects by constituency

The government faced mounting anger from parents and teachers around the country over its decision to scrap a massive school building programme, as a second Tory MP demanded an explanation over a decision to halt a new school in his constituency.

In Sandwell, in the West Midlands, one of the most deprived parts of the country, there was fury over nine cancelled school building schemes. The deputy leader of the council warned of a "two-tier system" with some children attending schools in desperate need of renovation.

Officials confessed they could not explain how a series of errors had been made which resulted in parents being wrongly told their school projects had been spared. "We don't have an answer on that," a spokesman said.

A list of schools published on a government website on Monday incorrectly identified some as spared when in fact they were being halted. The error became apparent when councils were contacted by phone the next day to be told projects in their area were stopped. An amended list was published on Tuesday â€" though shadow schools secretary Ed Balls has claimed there were further errors on this list.

Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, West Yorkshire, who plans to challenge Gove with a question in the House of Commons on Monday, said he wanted to know how the decision had been reached in his constituency, where a new building project for Ilkley and Bingley grammar schools has been halted.

The MP said: "Where there's an old school and people want a shiny new building, that's a luxury we can no longer afford. I'm not necessarily saying I have a disagreement, I just want to tease out the distinction between schools in different circumstances. "The two schools [in my constituency] need a new build on a new site. They are no longer big enough for their catchment area."

The MP said he wanted to know how the schools could generate extra space to take in more children from a new housing development built in their catchment area. "They literally have run out of space."

Ilkley Grammar School headteacher Gillian James said today that a new super-school in the town's green belt was the only viable option for education locally. It was, she added, "too late in the day" to reverse the process. Space at the school is so scarce that James is currently looking at ways to install a fifth mobile classroom. Some rooms are not accessible to wheelchairs, play space is limited and dining facilities are, said James, "wholly inadequate", forcing students to have lunch in town.

Yorkshire MP 's intervention piles fresh pressure on the Gove after Ian Liddell-Grainger, Tory MP for Bridgwater and Somerset, attacked plans to stop the three schools in his constituency and put three others under control.

He said today that he planned to lobby David Cameron. "When you have spent all this time through the education system and the council and others to build up these schools to what they are, I think people have a right to come to the prime minister and the cabinet to say, 'Look, we know what we can do, we know what we can achieve'. If I have to stand outside Downing Street and say, 'Can we please have a chat?', then I am more than happy to do so."

In Sandwell, councillor Steve Eling said: "There is now going to be a two-tier education system in Sandwell because these schools have lost out twice: once in not getting the funding they were promised, and a second time because they have now slipped behind the schools that already received funding in an earlier wave. Pupils at these schools now find themselves attending schools that are not only in desperate need of renovation or rebuilding, but are far behind other schools in the area in terms of quality."

Government officials have insisted that schools with a desperate problem will continue to receive money. "If the roof is leaking it should be replaced, but you need ?? 35m finishing oak" "the source said.

Gove believes there is little evidence that new school buildings improve standards. The coalition spared school projects where contracts had already been signed, because of the risk of being sued for breach of contract. One hundred and twenty academies were placed under review. This was done, a spokesman said, becacuse they were being built in some of the most impoverished areas of the country. A further 14 projects were put under review as they were latecomers to the Building Schools for the Future scheme.

Teaching unions have organised a lobby of parliament, to take place on Monday 19 July â€" a date which coincides with the second reading of the government's Academies bill.

A government spokesman said: "There is an ongoing review of all capital expenditure, which will look at things like need; this isn't the end of school building. Building Schools for the Future is only a third of capital spending. Schools will still get rebuilt; BSF as a programme is finished."

The Labour programme was described by the last government as the biggest school rebuilding programme since the Victorian age. But the Tories regarded it as wasteful.

The watchdog of public spending of the National Audit Office warned in a report last year that the cost of the scheme of the Black Sea fleet has increased by ?? 10 billion, but the projects were still nearly two years behind schedule.

Balls today described the errors made in the lists as "disgraceful". "But the real issue is that the cuts to over 700 new school buildings for communities which were expecting this much-needed investment should not be happening anyway."

A third Conservative MP added to the pressure on Gove. Gordon Henderson, Tory MP for the Isle of Sheppey, urged the education secretary to spare an academy project in his constituency which is under review.

He told Channel 4 News: "The buildings are simply not fit for function. A lot of the maintenance work has been postponed because they knew that the academy buildings were going to take place. We've got to have those new buildings â€" or we else we haven't got an academy."

• This article was amended on 9 July 2010. The original referred to Ilkley and Bingham grammar schools. This has been corrected.