FIVE schools in Waltham Forest are to be rebuilt using cash from a new government fund, it has been announced.

The £2 billion nationwide Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) will last five years and repair 261 sites in the country.

It aims to replace the previous Labour government's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme, which had been expected to cost a reported £55 billion but was axed by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010.

Whitehall cancelled the programme on the grounds it was inefficient and too bureaucratic, but critics attacked the move and said education would suffer.

Those that will benefit from the new scheme are Buxton School in Leytonstone, George Mitchell School in Leyton, Hawkswood Primary in Chingford, Selwyn Primary School in Highams Park, and St Joseph's Catholic Infant School in Leyton.

The secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, said in a statement: "Officials have today written to all schools who applied for the [PSBP] programme to confirm whether their application has been successful.

"Work will begin immediately and the first schools will be open in 2014."

He added: "Over the past two years we have allocated £2.7 billion to local authorities to support the provision of new school places and £2.8 billion for the maintenance of the school estate to meet the needs of maintained schools and academies.

"Over the spending review period, total capital investment will be over £17 billion."

Further information and a break-down of the spending has not yet been released.

The axing of the BSF scheme led to the cancellation of £263 million worth of planned improvement works to 18 schools in the borough.

The council took the government to court over the issue, and had its complaint over a lack of proper consultation partly upheld.

An out-of-court settlement was then reached but both sides agreed to keep the financial deal secret from the public.

In separate developments in April the government announced it was giving the Waltham Forest Council £30 million to help it tackle the severe shortage of school places in the borough.

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