SCHOOLS across East Lancashire have been allocated more than £7million for vital work.

Lancashire County Council is to invest in playing fields as well as carrying out much-needed buildings maintenance as part of its investment programme.

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Council chiefs have said it represents an investment in schools despite tight budgets.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said the funding was ‘commendable’ but it would not meet all the schools’ needs.

Some of the cash has already been spent on improvements while many schools will receive money to carry out work on playing fields in 2018/19.

The £7.2million funding is part of a bigger chunk for schools across the county and comes under the council’s capital funding programme, which is worth around £400million.

The budget has been altered based on what was spent by the council last year.

Schools set to benefit include Pendle View school in Nelson which will get £954,000 over the next two years, while Colne Park High was allocated £231,000 for 2016/17 and Whitworth High £247,000.

Schools based at Burnley Campus have already benefitted from £2million investment with the opening of two new buildings last month.

More than £2million was spent on two schools based at the campus.

Holly Grove School, which provides a specialist learning environment for pupils with learning difficulties, and Barden Primary School both received new buildings due to being oversubscribed.

Dionne Holdsworth, director of Burnley Campus, said the move had been in the planning for a few years.

She said: “The admissions numbers have increased significantly at the schools. Both were oversubscribed and we wanted to increase admissions for both schools, particularly with Holly Grove which was oversubscribed by a third.

“We also needed specialist equipment for Holly Grove because of the needs of pupils who require specialist equipment.

“Obviously it was vital for the critical needs for the children and we have such a fantastic base for the children.

“The spaces are fantastic. They are custom designed for the needs of the children.”

Other schools set to benefit from cash towards playing fields include Colne Park Primary School and Wheatley Lane Methodist School in Fence which will each get £27,000.

Ss John Fisher and Thomas More RC High School in Colne will get £38,000 in 2018/19.

Gillian Middlemas, headteacher of Whitworth High, which was allocated £247,000 to carry out vital works, said the programme was about keeping the school open, safe and appropriate for educating pupils.

She said: “For us the issues were windows. Several windows were as old as the school which is 50-years-old. It is about essential work that is needed to maintain the fabric of the building.

“We are really grateful that we have had this work done because that is not the kind of money schools can find in their general budget.”

Other schools set to benefit include Broadfield Specialist School in Oswaldtwistle which will get £437,000 and Longridge High School, which had £178,000 of work carried out on it over the summer.

Mount Carmel RC High School in Accrington and Alder Grange Community and Technology School in Rawtenstall will each receive £108,000 for their playing fields.

Mount Carmel headteacher Xavier Bowers welcomed the money and said the field was currently unusable for much of the year due to rain.

He said: “We have been trying to get some funding to drain our playing fields so it is fantastic news.

“If it’s dry for three weeks we can use it, but if it’s wet overnight it’s just a big sponge.

“It’s unusable for much of the year so we have to use Bullough Park for our fixtures, which is also used by most of the local residents and dog walkers so this has been on our agenda for a while.

“It will be fantastic if we can use it all through the years and play our fixtures on it.”

Clitheroe St James CE Primary School and Read St Johns CE Primary School will both get £38,000.

Cllr Matthew Tomlinson, Lancashire County Council cabinet member for children, young people and schools, said: “Even in hard times it is really important that the county council sets aside money to make sure the schools are the best they can be.

“It is about being reactive and making improvements to schools we have already got rather than building new schools.”

Simon Jones, Lancashire representative for the NUT, said: “It is commendable that Lancashire County Council is still making this a priority although obviously schools could always use more money.

“The £7million is not going to meet all the needs and the big issue is the complete underfunding of the education system from central government which is clearly a political choice.”