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David Ward MP <>
Bradford bags £7.4 million for extra school places
November 3, 2011 3:46 PM
David welcomes funding for extra school places
Bradford MP David Ward has welcomed today's announcement that Bradford is to receive an additional £7.4 million to help deal with our growing school population.
Bradford is one of only 100 local authorities which will benefit from an additional £500 million fund to help provide additional school places in areas of greatest need.
Today's extra funding comes on top of the £800m funding announced in December 2010 - double the normal annual level of support - which means that in 2011-12 a total of £1.3billion will have been allocated to fund additional school places.
The funding comes in the form of capital grants, which are not ring fenced. Local councils will be able to decide what projects this additional money will be invested in, for example, in small primary school projects.
Commenting, David said:
"This is very welcome news. Bradford needs an extra 40,000 school places over the next ten years to keep up with demand. Our system is bursting at the seams and this money will help us provide some of the extra capacity we need straight away. Investment in schools also helps boost local businesses and create jobs in the construction industry.
"However we still have a long way to go and extra cash won't solve all of our problems overnight. As well as providing more school places we also have to deal with a £50 million backlog in basic repairs. I will be working with Liberal Democrat colleagues in Government to make sure all children in Bradford have the opportunity to go to a good local school."
The full allocations can be viewed on the Department for Education's website here: bit.ly/tMWDuq