School building slowdown fears as spending slumps by £1bn

By Joey Gardiner2018-09-07T06:00:00

Firms in the sector report construction work is drying up as government slackens the pace of delivery

Fears are growing among contractors and consultants that school building will slow down even further this year after it fell £1bn, according to government accounts.

As schools reopened this week after the holidays, firms told Building work is beginning to dry up, prompting Tim Byles, former boss of the government’s school-building quango, to say: “Both public and private sector players have expressed concerns to me about the pace of delivery of new schools.”

Government spending on school building fell by £1bn last year to just £4bn, well below the £4.6bn a year implied by a £23bn allocation in 2015 to pay for school building and refurbishment up to 2021.

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