East Sussex school closure review after concrete scare

West Sussex, Medway and Kent councils say none of their schools are affected

A school in East Sussex has been declared unsafe because of dangerous concrete building materials.

East Sussex County Council said the school was undertaking an "urgent inspection" and reviewing if parts of the building needed to be closed.

More than 100 schools across the country were ordered to shut buildings made with a certain type of concrete.

There are concerns that structures made with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) may collapse.

Meanwhile, one school in Surrey has been found to have limited amounts of RAAC but does not require full closure, Surrey County Council said.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said safety issues over the concrete had previously been raised.

He told the BBC that there had been a number of instances over the summer where "RAAC that had been considered to be a low risk actually turned out to be unsafe".

This included one seemingly sound concrete beam collapsing.

An East Sussex County Council spokesman said the authority had "been informed by the Department for Education that there is one school in the county that has unsafe concrete.

"The school is undertaking an urgent inspection of the site and reviewing whether any parts of the building need to be closed.

"Further details are not available until the school has informed families about any changes for the new term next week."

Clare Curran, cabinet member for education and learning at Surrey County Council, said: "Currently we are not aware of any schools in Surrey that have been told to shut immediately due to RAAC.

"We can confirm that one school where Surrey County Council has retained responsibility for building maintenance has limited amounts of RAAC but does not require full closure.

"We have already been working closely with this school, and experts from the Department for Education, to ensure an appropriate plan was in place as children return to school."

A West Sussex County Council spokesman said that none of the maintained schools in the county would be "immediately shut".

He added: "West Sussex County Council is aware of the RAAC issue and has already completed a review of records for [council] maintained schools.

"No [council] maintained schools have been identified from records as containing any indicating RAAC construction - and to provide added confidence physical inspections of all maintained school blocks constructed between 1930-2000 is being commissioned."

• Live update: More than 100 schools affected by RAAC

Brighton and Hove City council, Medway Council and Kent County Council (KCC) have said none of their schools have been affected by the government directive over building closures.

'Remedial action taken'

A KCC spokesman said: "Kent has no schools faced with closure because of the government's latest directive.

"I think we were ahead of the curve on that issue and had already taken all the remedial action required."

Council data does not include schools run by academy trusts, which are outside the jurisdiction of local authorities.

The Department for Education has urged schools that had buildings constructed between 1935 and 1995 to be surveyed.

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