Norfolk council's £92m schools PFI under threat

Norfolk County Council (NCC) could be forced to go back to the drawing board with its £92m schools PFI after the council revealed that Vinci's interest in buying the PFI bidding arm of preferred bidder Jarvis could "significantly affect" the project.

In a statement released today (Tuesday) NCC revealed that deputy director of education, Sue Rossiter, had now met with Vinci Investments to discuss how to take the existing 37-school PFI forward.

"It is clear from that meeting that the potential involvement of Vinci could significantly affect the county council's decision as to whether to continue with the existing project.

"Vinci has said it would be committed to seeing our project through if it was to go ahead with the deal with Jarvis. However, it will need two to three weeks to examine information in detail before being able to confirm whether it can meet all the terms of the project agreed with Jarvis. 

"In particular, Vinci will need to visit some schools to assess whether the proposed construction timescales are still achievable."

NCC said that it will make a further decision on the project during a cabinet meeting on 8 November.