29/11/2004 - Cabinet to consider more than £600k for Walney School sports hall project

At the next county council cabinet meeting, members will consider granting more than £600k towards the sports hall project at Walney School. The meeting will be at 10am on Tuesday 30 November at the Courts in Carlisle.

The project was considered at the previous cabinet meeting in October. Approval was deferred after it was decided to review secondary education in Barrow in readiness for the building schools for the future (BSF) initiative. Since then, it appears BSF money for Cumbria will be available much later than first thought.

County councillor, Joan Stocker, cabinet member for education said:

"This is a much needed development for Walney School. Sports facilities at the school are very basic. Approval was deferred in October after it was decided to review secondary education in the Barrow area in preparation for the BSF initiative. We had to make sure that any projects approved now would meet the expectations of this initiative in the long term. Having reviewed the scheme, it is clear that the sports hall will be built as a separate unit and not attached to the main school and could function as a community facility even if the school by any chance happened to cease to exist in the future. There is no risk that the county council would have to repay the capital if there was a change of use of the building in the future. The scheme will therefore be re-instated within the capital programme."