Council accuses Education Secretary of failure to comply with BSF court ruling

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, one of the six councils involved in the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) judicial review, has held open the prospect of further legal action after accusing the Education Secretary of failing to comply with a High Court ruling.

The council said its legal advisers would be writing to Michael Gove after the minister earlier this month announced a “provisional decision” that he was “not minded” to fund any of the BSF projects drawn up by the six local authorities involved in the case.

The Education Secretary did, however, say he would indemnify the councils for their contractual liabilities resulting from the stage their projects had reached.

He also said his decision was subject to representations from the authorities concerned. The other five local authorities involved in the judicial review were Luton Borough Council, Nottingham City Council, the London Borough of Waltham Forest, Kent County Council, and the London Borough of Newham.

Sandwell said its legal advisers would be writing to Gove to question the lawfulness of his decision on 19 July.

According to the council, the Education Secretary had made his provisional decision on the basis that he had no recent data with which to compare the state of Sandwell’s schools against other schools in the country.

Sandwell’s legal team will argue that this did not comply with Mr Justice Holman’s ruling in February this year, where the High Court judge said the minister had failed to consult with the authorities and have due regard to the equality impacts of his original decision.

Cllr Darren Cooper, Sandwell’s leader, said: "We do not believe that Mr Gove's latest decision is in line with the High Court ruling, which essentially stated that he should reconsider the case of each school on its merits.

"Whether or not he has data on other schools across the country is irrelevant to this. We believe we have a good case to ask Mr Gove to have another look at the case for rebuilding Sandwell's schools, and we very much hope he will do so."

Sandwell said its chief executive, Jan Britton, would also be writing to the Education Secretary to spell out the specific need for investment and re-construction in each of its BSF schools.