Councils fight BSF axe

Six councils kick off a legal fight at the London High Court to overturn government decision

A legal battle between six councils and the government over the scrapping of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) kicked off today at the High Court in London.

Waltham Forest Council, Kent County Council, Luton Borough Council, Nottingham City Council, Newham Council and Sandwell Council are hoping to overturn the decision to axe the £55bn BSF programme as part of government spending cuts.

The decision saw more than 700 rebuilds cancelled as a result of the decision. All six councils, are alleging that the Department of Education, led by education secretary Michael Gove, failed to consult the schools and councils before final decisions were made and did not give adequate reasons why some schemes would be saved and others binned.

In a statement on the BBC web site, Waltham Forest Council leader, councillor Chris Robbins said his council stood to lose £275m of investment and the judicial review was the council’s only option because the government would not ‘sit down amicably’ to explain its decision.

“We have significant levels of deprivation in our borough and BSF was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to raise the aspirations of our entire population," Robbins said. “That chance has been snatched away from future generations and will have a devastating impact for years to come."

The government is prepared to defend its decision.

In a statement, a Department for Education representative, said: “The coalition government has been clear that the end of BSF is not the end of school rebuilding. That's why we have launched a comprehensive review of all capital spending so that school building can be done more efficiently and quickly."