RED-FACED borough bosses have been forced to scrap plans to expand a secondary school.

Lewisham Council wanted to transform Northbrook School, Taunton Road, Lee, under its £187m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

But the plug has been pulled on the project, amid fears it could put the BSF programme back "at least 10 years".

In September 2004 the cabinet agreed to provide 250 extra places at Northbrook by dividing the school into two, offering a total of 750 places.

This would have meant refurbishing its existing Taunton Road site and providing new facilities in Leahurst Road, Lee.

The council will now refurbish the existing site but scrap plans for the new site, following the publication of the outline business case for BSF.

Deputy mayor Councillor Gavin Moore admitted to News Shopper this is "disappointing" news.

He said: "We had aspired for more but to expand Northbrook onto two sites would have been a step too far.

"We wanted to keep within the cost envelope the Government has given us. Going outside this would have set us back at least 10 years."

The overall BSF package will see every secondary school in the borough either rebuilt or refurbished by 2015.

Cllr Moore is still confident the programme will deliver its aim of creating 900 extra school places.

He added: "This is a once- in-50-years opportunity.

"We are determined to be successful."

The extra 250 places which were intended for Northbrook will now be taken by Deptford Green School, Amersham Vale, New Cross, and Prendergast School, Adelaide Avenue, Lewisham.

The New School Campaign, which wants a new school in the north of the borough, has welcomed the extra places at Deptford Green but criticised the council over Northbrook.

Campaign secretary John Hamilton said: "The whole thing is a mess. It shows a lack of forward planning."

Head of Local Education Action for Parents Helen Le Fevre described the Northbrook episode as a "catalogue of disasters".



DEVELOPMENT DEMONS

THE council has hit more problems in its quest to build a new school in Ladywell.

The outline business case, approved last week by the cabinet, says the council will ask all bidders to complete "detailed design work before they are awarded the contract".

This means the council faces the prospect of paying out to losing contractors to compensate them for money they spend drawing up plans.

The report says this must be done to meet an "ambitious" deadline to open the school, on the current Ladywell Leisure Centre site, by 2009.

New School Campaign Secretary John Hamilton said: "There seems to be a political agenda to privatise everything but it's not always the best way."