Delays hit £200m school rebuilding programme in city
The £200m project to rebuild 12 schools in Portsmouth has been hit with delays as doubts linger about the future of the scheme.
A building contractor was supposed to be picked in July but that has now been set back three months to October.
While the process of finding a firm to supply the computer systems at the schools has also been delayed and will now finish in July instead of May.
The team behind Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme at Portsmouth City Council says it has been 'more complex' than expected.
They say building work on the first two schools in the scheme - King Richard in Paulsgrove and Priory, Southsea - is still due to start next year.
But there is greater uncertainty about the works at the other 10 schools, due to start from 2012, and an 80m BSF project to transform 10 Havant schools, as ministers look to make massive cuts.
Councillor John Ireland, who is in charge of education in the city, said: 'We'll continue to plan for building work at King Richard and Priory.
'As for the later phases going ahead, we hope for the best but plan for the worst.
'It would be a huge betrayal to all pupils in Portsmouth if the programme was scrapped completely. We would hold the government to account for this. But I've not reason to believe that is the case at the moment.'
The news comes after an election campaign in which the Conservatives said they would review the BSF programme because too much money is wasted on consultants, while the Liberal Democrats said they would scrap the scheme entirely.
There have been no announcements since the two parties formed a coalition government, but Chancellor George Osborne will reveal 6bn of spending cuts next week.
BSF project director, Mike Fowler, said: 'It is business as usual for the Portsmouth BSF team and the project remains on track to deliver new school buildings and grounds, ICT and achieve our vision to transform learning.
'These dates have been agreed with the BSF schools and the building work at King Richard and Priory, the first two city schools to be transformed, remains on track to begin next year.'
>> Vote in our latest web poll.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Portsmouth
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: East
