New mayor to continue lobbying for concrete cash for schools in north tyneside

AS THE WAIT FOR EXTRA CASH TO REPAIR OR REPLACE FOUR SCHOOLS IN NORTH TYNESIDE CONTINUES, THE NEWLY-ELECTED MAYOR HAS PROMISED TO LOBBY "HARD" FOR THE FUNDS. 19:58, 21 May 2025

North Tyneside Labour will continue to lobby the Government “hard” for the funds to fix four schools blighted with concrete problems, says the new Mayor. In an interview with the Local

Democracy Reporting Service, Mayor Karen Clark said she would continue to push the Government for the funds needed to resolve structural issues across four North Tyneside schools. Following

a small ceiling collapse at Fordley Primary School, in Annitsford, in December 2023, inspections revealed three other schools were suffering from the same weakened concrete issues -

Hazlewood Primary, Churchill Community College and Grasmere Academy. The concrete problems, and now dis-used method of construction associated with the faults, are not related to RAAC or

Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, which has caused issues in other public buildings. While face-to-face learning has been returned to affected pupils, some school buildings remain

off-limits for safety reasons, and pupils are accommodated in temporary classrooms. Mayor Clark said: “One of the issues would be around schools. We do have issues with weak concrete in four

of our schools in the borough and the costs of replacing that is multi-millions of pounds that we do not have in our council budget. That is one example of a specific area I am requesting

financial support on." Mayor Clark continued: “I can totally understand and empathise with the situation parents and children have found themselves in. But the priority as well as

retaining high quality education and continuing that education to do our best for our children in the borough is health and safety issues." The Mayor added: “I absolutely understand the

frustration of parents and children but I hope they can understand we can't allow children to return to buildings that are unsafe and we simply don’t have the millions of pounds that

are required. It is not a quick fix thing but we are really working hard on it, as I say, I am lobbying the Government hard for support on that." The local authority has already spent

£7m on buying modular classrooms for Hazlewood, Fordley and Churchill. According to previous reporting from the Chronicle in March this year, the estimated cost of long-term repair or

rebuild works were estimated at between £1.8m and £7.5m. Article continues below JOIN OUR BREAKING NEWS AND TOP STORIES WHATSAPP COMMUNITY Join our Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp

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