Gove's green light for school rebuilds

Michael Gove lifted his freeze on new school building projects yesterday, giving the green light for 33 proposals.

Another 44 new academy projects have also been approved, while the future of a further 75 will be decided by a comprehensive spending review.

The Education Secretary described the announcement as "good news" for schools in the 14 council regions where the building projects will take place. Last month, the Building Schools for the Future scheme was cut, effectively scrapping more than 730 school rebuilds.

However, Ed Balls, the shadow education secretary, pointed out that the 77 approved plans were part of 150 building projects being reviewed – which now look unlikely to be finished.

He said: "Half the schools under review will not now go ahead as planned, including the majority of new academy projects. Whilst there is some good news for a small number of schools, this comes at the expense of hundreds of cancelled projects."