Plans revealed for schools' repair work

Millions of pounds allocated by government to improve buildings

- BY PAUL FAULKNER LOCAL DEMOCRACY REPORTER

DETAILS have been published about the repair work to be carried out at dozens of schools across Lancashire.

Roof defects, faulty boilers and potential health and safety issues are among the problems that will be rectified using money allocated from the government's Condition Improvement Fund (CIF).

A total of 35 schemes will be undertaken at 30 schools in the Lancashire County Council and Blackpool and Blackpool with Darwen council areas after bids were made to the Department for Education (DfE) for financial support.

The cost of each project has not been revealed, nor the total amount allocated to Lancashire's trio of local education authorities.

However, the county has been awarded a share of the £54m earmarked for the North West during 2025/26 from a £470m nationwide pot.

The funding is in addition to the £16m Lancashire this year received via the annual School Condition Allocations (SCA) distributed to local authorities - £14.5m for the county council and £1.4m and £357K for Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool councils, respectively.

When plans for that cash were set out by Lancashire County Council back in January, the authority acknowledged that it would not be enough to tackle all of the top-priority school maintenance problems in its patch - only those deemed most severe.

CIF funding bids were made to address health and safety risks and buildings in poor condition or those with “compliance” issues in relation to meeting relevant regulations.