THE council has said its legal action today against the Government's decision to scrap a school improvements funding scheme will cost taxpayers at least £100,000 - but that it has a 70 per cent chance of success.
The claims come as the High Court is set to hear a judicial review this morning brought by Waltham Forest Council and five other authorities into the abolition of Building Schools for the Future (BSF), which would have seen £263 million invested in 16 of the borough’s schools.
The coalition Government threw out BSF after coming to power last year on the grounds that the scheme was wasteful and inefficient.
In an interview with the Guardian ahead of the court hearing, council leader Chris Robbins denied the legal action was a political stunt and said the authority had been left with "no choice" but to take its case to court.
He said: "We cannot walk away from our young people. The borough has lost over £250 million - we can't just accept that and not put up a fight.
"We would not have put this together unless we felt we had a very good case. The Government made this decision [to scrap BSF] based on flawed information.
"There was no consultation and they never even asked us what impact it would have. They were never aware that we were just about to put a construction company on site at one school at the time.
"Of course it's a risk and I'd rather spend the money on something else, but the Government has forced us into this position."
Cllr Robbins said he did not know whether the action would succeed, but added that council staff had estimated that the likelihood of the court ruling in the authority's favour was 70 per cent.
The Labour leader also said he believed he had the full support of the borough and that he was only aware of one person who had raised objections - Conservative opposition leader Cllr Matt Davis.
Cllr Davis has questioned the wisdom of the costly legal bid at a time when the council is struggling to balance its books.
He said: "I very much wonder whether this is really being done for party political purposes rather than in the best interests of residents in Waltham Forest.
"I very much regret that Cllr Robbins is attempting to personalise this when many people in the borough are very concerned about whether this is really the best way to spend the council's money."
He also claims that the planned work could have been completed if the programme had been handled better and pointed the finger at Cllr Robbins, who was cabinet member for children at the time.
Cllr Davis said that Tower Hamlets Council began work on 15 of its schools at the same time as Waltham Forest started on projects in Leyton and Chingford. The former local authority completed all the projects before the funding was scrapped, but Waltham Forest did not.
Cllr Robbins admitted he had been frutsrated by the slow pace of work but said Cllr's Davis's claim was "absolute rubbish."
He added: "There is no evidence that any other local authority was quicker than us at delivering BSF projects. All this nonsense that it was taking too long just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
"This [legal action] is unarguable. I know that people are totally supportive of the action we're taking. I've had no letters or complaints, and residents and schools are all saying well done to us."
A court ruling is not expected until at least a week.
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