Schools get £1.75bn for refurbishment work

Hundreds of England’s primary schools will be rebuilt or refurbished after the government approved building plans worth £1.75bn.

More than 1,500 projects will begin across 133 local authorities over the next two years as part of the Primary Capital Programme.

The programme aims to invest £7bn refurbishing half of all the schools in the country by 2023.

Another 15 local councils will be offered advice on how to revise their plans so that money can be released by April 2009.

Schools secretary Ed Balls told the BBC: “This is a once-in-a-generation chance to transform primary education in every part of the country – to sweep away buildings now reaching the end of their shelf-life and drive up the quality of our schools.

“Such a massive capital funding injection will have big spin-off benefits for the construction industry and local businesses, who will be crucial to fitting out the new and refurbished schools.”