Schools to get share of £14m repairs fund
SCHOOLS are set to share in a multi-million pound programme of repairs and renovations.
Balladen Community Primary School in Rawtenstall is scheduled to have structural repairs and other works done, while Britannia Primary School in Bacup is due to get a heating system.
Lancashire County Council’s cabinet agreed a provisional list of schemes to be funded from an anticipated £14m government grant that the authority expects to receive this spring.
The programme is funded by the Department for Education (DfE).
Each upgrade will be confirmed only once the cash is secured, but a total of 61 schools across Lancashire are part of the planned schedule of works.
However, the degree of need across Lancashire means that not all schools even with urgent issues will see them rectified in the current round of what is an annual programme of remedial work.
Details of each school’s intended refurbishment were restricted to a behindclosed-doors session of a County Hall cabinet meeting.
That was in order to keep confidential the estimated value of each project until completion of the procurement process under which firms will be able to bid to carry out the work.
The renovations form part of the Schools Condition-Led Capital Investment Programme across the county council area, which excludes Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen.
Wherever possible, renovations will be scheduled to take place in school holidays over the next two financial years - including the summer breaks in 2023 and 2024 - so as to limit the impact on education.
The latest round of the schools condition programme will have a particular focus on reducing carbon emissions.
In buildings where heating systems require wholesale replacement, each project will be considered individually for its suitability for a low carbon heating solution.
Cabinet member for children and families Cosima Towneley told the public part of the meeting where the plans were discussed that “a great many schools will benefit”, adding that she looked forward to seeing the results of the refurbishments.
A separate allowance has been made within the programme to conduct further investigations and specialist surveys into buildings where there is deemed to be a potential risk arising from their age or the type of construction process used when they were built.
County Hall says that there is a particular need to review existing concrete or steel frame buildings across its property portfolio.