MORE than £3m is needed to bring all of the Barnsley Council-controlled schools in the town up to scratch - but the government grant of £600,000 will be ‘insufficient’ to deal with high priority repairs, council bosses say.
At next week’s cabinet meeting, local councillors will discuss the annual School Condition Allocation capital grant which is to be used to ‘invest in keeping school buildings safe’.
The estimated backlog of maintenance on council-run schools is a total of £3.3m.
This include £1.6m in high priority works - which should be completed within 18 months - £1.5m on medium priority and £300,000 on low priority.
However it is expected the council will receive a government grant of just £600,000 later this month.
A report states: “The DfE is expected to announce in March 2025, its provisional local authority funding allocations for the 2025/26 financial year.
“Barnsley is expected to receive £610,000.
“The available funding will be insufficient to deal with the high priority items.
“Increasing costs for materials and labour mean that, although SCA funds are used to address high priority issues, the total value of the condition backlog does not necessarily decrease year on year.
“Given that we have insufficient funds to tackle medium and low priority concerns, the condition of these will continue to deteriorate and they will become high and medium priorities in their own right.
“While Barnsley has a significant backlog, its estate is in generally better condition than some other areas of the country and so will attract less funding.”
The council has earmarked the funding for a number of schools - with money being used on health and safety, roofing, mechanical and electrical and both internal and external work.
A total of £100,000 will be spent on a boiler replacement programme.
Keresforth Hill Primary will receive one replacement boiler and Jump Primary’s three boilers are ‘near end of life’ - the budget will also allow for any safety measures to be installed if required.
Around £100,000 is also set to be spent on Shawlands Primary School - including £70,000 on roofing works.
A report added: “This school experienced severe vandalism to numerous roof lights during summer 2024.
“While insurance money would allow like for like replacements, the areas of roof adjacent those roof lights have been prone to leaks.
“Other areas of roofing also suffer water ingress so discussions are underway with the school to determine how best to maximise use of the insurance funds and this budget allowance to enhance the learning environment.”
The school will also receive £30,000 for security measures following the vandalism last summer.
