Councils in court challenge over decision to axe school building scheme

Six councils in England are urging the High Court to find that the decision to scrap the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme was taken incorrectly.

Education Secretary Michael Gove abolished the scheme in July, cancelling projects at more than 700 schools.

The decision provoked uproar from local councils, unions and Labour politicians, who warned it was a tragedy and would have a catastrophic effect on pupils.

In October, several councils announced they would be taking action against the move.

The authorities involved in this week's challenge, which begins tomorrow, are Waltham Forest Council, Luton Borough Council, Nottingham City Council, Sandwell Council, Kent County Council and Newham Council.

Waltham Forest Council leader, Chris Robbins, said: "We have significant levels of deprivation in our borough and Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was a once in a lifetime opportunity to raise the aspirations of our entire population.

"That chance has been snatched away from future generations and will have a devastating impact for years to come.

"We stand to lose 275m of investment. Because the Government wouldn't sit down amicably and explain their decision to us, this judicial review is the only avenue left open."

Under Labour's 55bn BSF scheme every secondary school in England was due to be rebuilt or refurbished. But it was among the first education schemes to be cut by the coalition, with Mr Gove saying the programme had been beset by "massive overspends, tragic delays, botched construction projects and needless bureaucracy".

However, Mr Gove came under fire over his handling of the situation after it emerged that initial lists of affected works were strewn with errors.

The mistakes meant several schools which believed they would be able to go ahead with their building projects had their hopes dashed.