Cotham escapes school spending cuts

There was outrage when Education Secretary Michael Gove announced a ruthless £55 billion spending cut in the 'Building Schools for the Future' programme - but it looks as though Cotham School was finished in the nick of time.

So the building work may have overrun but fortunately, not so much that it was affected by this new Government money saving venture.

It was a different story altogether for 715 Secondary Schools across the country and possibly another 123 planned Academies.

The news was a bitter blow for these schools, non of which are in Bristol, who were promised funding under the 2004 Labour scheme.

Mr Gove said schools where building work had started would be completed but planned building works at hundreds of schools would be scrapped. Of these, 180 were newbuilds.

So it would appear that this is the first serious casualty (apart from the Labour Party) from the change in Government. While we can feel fortunate here in Bristol, just think of the damage elsewhere...