MP WELCOMES NEW SCHOOL BUILDING PLANS FOR NORTH DEVON
December 3, 2009 11:32 AM
Nick Harvey, MP for North Devon, has warmly welcomed the announcement by Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, that two schools in North Devon have been successful in their bids for funding in the "Building Schools for the Future" programme.
"I am delighted that both Ilfracombe and Chulmleigh College have been accepted for major re-building projects," Nick commented. "I led a delegation from the County Council to see Jim Knight MP, the Minister responsible for the BSF programme, to lobby for Devon to be allowed to bid for funding several years before originally intended.
"I understand that it will be funded as a PFI (Private Finance Initiative) that means the buildings will be built by a private company and then leased by Devon County Council, which from the Government's point of view, has the benefit of keeping this expenditure separate from the burgeoning borrowing requirement.
"Much of the credit for the hard work on these projects has to go to the former Liberal Democrat administration and the persistence of Geoff Fowler in Ilfracombe and Joe Tucker in Chulmleigh in arguing the cases so strongly at County Hall.
"Joe Tucker in particular encountered a great deal of cynicism in some quarters when he succeeded in getting the derelict old classrooms at Chulmleigh demolished and replaced by modern temporary units, but that left the site clear for the new-build which is now promised. His ground work has brought the result we all wanted.
"Whether the promises are kept may well depend on the outcome of the next General Election as the Conservatives appear to be set on abolishing the Building School for the Future programme and have only a vague proposal relying on sponsorship by businesses, charities or religious organisations to offer in its place. In the current economic climate that seems like a prescription for disaster," Nick concluded.
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