£2.4 Billion Investment in Schools. The Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) was established in 2011 to address the needs of those schools in the worst condition across the country. 260 schools in England have been identified to benefit from the initiative. The programme started today (Monday 1st June) with ceremonies to mark the start of construction to replace three schools, two in Newcastle and one in Durham.
Prudhoe High School, Newcastle, will benefit from a new building, including a 4-court community sports hall, for 883 pupils as a result of its £14.6 million building project.
Whitehouse Primary School in North Tyneside, Newcastle, will receive a new building for 210 pupils through its £3.1 million building project.
St Joseph RCVA Primary School in Coundon, Durham, will receive a new building for 155 pupils, through its £2.1 million building project
Schools Minister Lord Nash said:
“As part of our long-term economic plan we are investing in school buildings across the country, so we can transform the learning environment for tens of thousands of pupils and their teachers while delivering value for money for the taxpayer.”
The start of construction work at Prudhoe High School, Whitehouse Primary School and St Joseph RCVA Primary School marks a key milestone for the Priority School Building Programme in Durham and Newcastle.
Thanks to the PSBP, school buildings are being rebuilt faster and cheaper than those built under the previous school building initiative – building schools for the future (BSF). Under the BSF it took 3 years for construction work to begin. This was slashed to 1 year for the PSBP, with projects costing around a third less.
On 9 February 2015 the government announced details of the second phase of the PSBP, worth around £2 billion, which will see a further 277 school buildings rebuilt or refurbished, bringing the total to 537 schools to benefit over the life of the programme.
This is indeed good news for English schools where in some parts of the country the infrastructure has suffered a heavy decline. It will be interesting in the coming weeks to see what the new contingent of 56 Scottish Nationalist Party MPs think of this localised England-only programme.
