One Coventry school to be rebuilt as revamp plans axed

The Sidney Stringer Academy will be co-run by the city council and Jaguar

Only one of the 22 school building projects in Coventry is to go ahead after the government scrapped a national redevelopment scheme.

The new £27m Sidney Stringer Academy, in Hillfields, was due to open next year after a fire in 2007.

Education Secretary Michael Gove announced on Monday that hundreds of rebuilding projects would be cancelled.

All local authority schemes that have not reached financial close would not go ahead, saving "billions" of pounds.

'Children suffer'

Up to 719 school redevelopments already involved in the national scheme will not now go ahead and 123 academy schemes are to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, the government said.

The 706 schools that will be completed under the former government's Building School's for the Future programme will continue but the current government will look at ways to make savings within the projects.

Bob Ainsworth, Labour MP for Coventry North East, told BBC News that thousands of children will suffer.

Jane Nellist, from the NUT in Coventry, said it is a tragedy for education in the city.

"We are destroying the life chances of many children, many young people in this city by not investing in school buildings in this city," she said.

The Sidney Stringer Academy will be run by Coventry City Council and private sponsors Jaguar and Coventry University.