A SCHOOL repair budget costing £2.3 million has been approved by York council chiefs, but work could still be scrapped if expected government funds do not come through.

Cllr Stuart Rawlings, the city council’s executive member for education, has agreed a plan that will see 20 schools share the £2.35 million budget to pay for things like roof repairs, kitchen ventilation, and better heating systems.

Government grants make up part of the funds, but as the amount of money York will get has not yet been announced education workers in York have had to estimate how much the city will get and make plans based on that.

York Press:

Cllr Rawlings said he was worried about what would happen if the government’s grants were smaller than expected, and concerned some projects might have to be scrapped if the money did not come through.

At his decision session on Tuesday, education staff told they had made conservative estimates of the government funding, but said if the money does fall short of what is expected one of the schemes at the bottom of the priority list would not be able to go ahead.

Although £182,000 has been set aside for a contingency fund, they want to keep that in reserve for the winter months when the council often has to pay between £100,000 and £200,000 for emergency repairs well cold weather hits.

However, Cllr Rawlings praised the staff for providing thorough details of how projects had been prioritised for funding, and when he agreed the list he also gave them authority to go ahead with funding the next project - rewiring at Huntington School - if other projects come in under budget and leave money to spare.

Of the £2.3 million allocated, the biggest chunk is to go to Dringhouses Primary which is in line for £579,000 for a kitchen refurbishment and work on the fire alarm, roof and wiring.

Another £230,000 is going on the second phase of roof repairs at Carr Junior School.

Stockton on the Forest primary is getting £137,000 for roof and window replacements, and York High is getting £141,000 also for work on its roof.

The funds include £554,000 the council plans to borrow, and £396,000 from developer contributions.

Without that extra money all the cash would be taken up with urgent work on kitchen ventilation, fire alarms and emergency lighting, leaving nothing for other maintenance, documents showed.