GOVERNMENT URGED TO STEP UP INVESTMENT IN CAMBRIDGE SCHOOLS

The Government has been urged to bring forward a massive rebuilding and refurbishment programme for schools in Cambridge.
Cambridgeshire County Council has already secured over £90 million for schools in Fenland, as part of the Government’s £45 billion Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme.

Schools in Huntingdon, Cambridge city, East Cambridgeshire and South Cambridgeshire are expected to benefit in future ‘waves’ of the BSF programme over the next 10 years - but County Councillors have urged the Government to bring forward schemes for the rest of the county at an early stage.

The County Council’s Cabinet agreed that investment in schools in the Cambridge sub-region should be brought forward to align more closely with the huge programme of house-building expected to start shortly in Cambridge and surrounding areas.

The Cambridgeshire Structure Plan, adopted in October 2003, provides for 60,000 new homes to be built by 2016. Of these, 47,000 are planned for the Cambridge sub-region, nearly 12,000 of which could be built in major developments adjoining the city.

Coun Shona Johnstone, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, said: “We have worked extremely hard to secure a share of the BSF money for schools in Fenland, and I am delighted this now seems certain to go ahead. However, several schools in and around Cambridge city are in similar need, and I am urging the Government to bring BSF investment in the rest of the county further up the programme.

“We have for a long time been planning for the educational needs of families who will be moving into the thousands of homes being planned in and around Cambridge, so it is vital that the BSF programme dovetails with our own. We have a duty to ensure children and young people across the county can access the best possible education, so I have been lobbying the Government at every level to ensure ministers share this vision.”

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

Political contacts: Conservative Coun Shona Johnstone 01954 230565 (h) or 07752 880344 (mobile); Liberal Democrat Coun Anne Kent 01223 353811 (h) or 07771 782265 (mob); Labour Coun Martin Ballard 01223 562737.

1. For further information contact BSF Programme Director Kevin Manley on 01223 717902 or Simon Cobby in the Press Office on 01223 717627.

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