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Building Schools for the Future in Coventry

Coventry's BSF programme

Coventry City Council is "bitterly disappointed" after education secretary Michael Gove rejected it case to reprieve its Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

Mr Gove halted the city's £355 million scheme – which would have seen nine new schools built and 11 other refurbished – on Monday, 5th July 2010.

A cross-party delegation from the city council along with Coventry's three MPs travelled to London to meet with the education secretary on Tuesday in a bid to change his mind or at least save part of the scheme.

But the pleas were turned down although a commitment was given to look sympathetically on the city's case in any future school building programme.

Coventry City Council, which has spent £4.5 million on the BSF process, was just three weeks away from closing dialogue with bidders to deliver the city's scheme. Closing dialogue would have meant its sample – or first schools to be delivered – could have gone ahead after discussion with ministers.

President Kennedy School in Holbrooks would have been the first new school to be built and would have had a Broad Spectrum Special School also built on the site. The Westwood School in Canley was to be the first school to be refurbished.

Cllr Lynnette Kelly, Coventry City Council's Cabinet Member for Education, said she was bitterly disappointed with the decision.

She said: "This scheme had cross-party support in Coventry and we feel for the sake of just three weeks we feel we have been treated very harshly.

"Teachers and staff at all of our schools work tremendously hard to achieve great results with our young people and I know that will not change but we wanted to allow them to do that in the learning environments they deserve."

It was not all bad news as Mr Gove in sympathising with Coventry's position agreed to send members of his capital review team to the city to look at the city's schools as part of their report on how new school buildings will be funded in the future.

He also intimated that because of the condition of some buildings, the levels of deprivation of some communities the schools serve and the fact that Coventry was so close to closing dialogue would stand it in good stead with any new Capital Investment Programme.

Cllr Kelly added: "We are totally committed to ensuring that Coventry gets the school buildings we deserve and we will do all we can to ensure we are at the front of the queue when any new school building programme is announced."

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