High court told BSF cancellation “unlawful”

14.02.2011

With just over a week to go until the Building Schools Exhibition and Conference (BSEC), a high court judge has ruled that Education Secretary, Michael Gove, acted unlawfully in cancelling the Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF).

Mr Justice Holman told the high court in London that Mr Gove had broken the law by failing to consult local authorities over his decision to cancel school rebuilding projects. The Education Secretary was also deemed to have acted unlawfully by failing to give “due regard” to equality legislation.

The Government scrapped the £55bn scheme to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school in England back in July last year. As a result, more than 700 building projects were cancelled.

Six councils – Waltham Forest, Luton Borough Council, Nottingham City Council, Sandwell, Kent and Newham County Council - took the Government to court over the cancellation of their schemes and now hope that Gove’s decisions will be overturned.

The Government will now have to reconsider their decision to cancel the BSF scheme and may also have to pay compensation to the six councils involved in the case. However, the final decision on whether building projects will be reinstated will still reside with the Education Secretary.

The impact of the BSF cancellations will be a hot topic at the forthcoming BSEC exhibition, being held at London’s ExCel on the 23rd and 24th of February. LapSafe® Products will be demonstrating its Diplomat™ RFID laptop charging lockers at BSEC on stand 352.