School chaos continues in Poole

1.00.00pm GMT Fri 1st Feb 2008

Work to extend and upgrade the buildings at Old Town First School began in Summer 2005 with a planned completion date of Summer 2006. Within a few months councillors were warned that costs had gone up by £500,000.

The deadline for completing the job passed in August 2006, without any more work being done or the savings demanded by councillors being found.  The Council then added a Children's Centre to the original project and the promised completion date moved to August 2007.

However, as our photo shows, children were still having to go to school on a building site at the start of this year, 18 months behind the original schedule, and another revised date of August 2008 has now been given.

The Conservative Council has consistently overspent and run late on school projects, including the Rossmore pyramid, Hamworthy, Old Town and they now have problems with Turlin Moor. A recent report to Cabinet reveals that they could lose £400,000 in government grant through failing to deliver the planned Children's Centres on time.