Locals 'should not foot bill for school repairs'

A TYNESIDE council has called out the Department for Education, stating it “cannot be fair” council taxpayers foot a multi-million pound schools repair bill.

- By AUSTEN SHAKESPEARE

In May last year, North Tyneside Council criticised the DfE over a lack of long-term financial support for three local schools blighted by weak and brittle concrete, and an outdated construction method.

The letter to the DfE put forward a “hypothetical” scenario to highlight the financial scale of the problem, equating to a 0.75% increase in council tax if the authority was left to its own devices.

North Tyneside Council bosses were quick to confirm it never considered a council tax hike to pay for works to Fordley Primary, Hazlewood Primary, and Churchill Community College.

Council chiefs reiterated the theoretical 0.75% rise was mentioned to illustrate the scale of the challenge.

A partial ceiling collapse at Fordley Primary in December 2023 sparked a series of inspections across schools in North Tyneside.