A CRUMBLING North-East school has been promised £400,000 of Government cash, just one week after a minister insisted there was no money available.

Hetton Secondary School, in Houghton le Spring, will receive help to build a new speech and language unit, after fierce lobbying by local MP Bridget Phillipson.

The news comes just days after David Laws, the Liberal Democrat education minister, said the school would receive urgent help only if “money falls out of the air”.

The rethink at Hetton School – where broken heaters leave pupils shivering, asbestos-laden tiles sway in the wind and drainpipes fall off – follows its plight being aired on BBC Radio 4.

It may offer hope to around 20 other dilapidated North-East schools which have been promised cash to rebuild – but with no guarantee of when that money will arrive.

However, Mr Laws – in a meeting with Ms Phillipson – confirmed the rebuilding work will not start until late 2014, a year later than originally planned.

As a result, the new school will open in September 2016 – again, a 12-month delay – after attempts to find private finance for the work hit trouble.

Ms Phillipson, the Houghton and Sunderland South MP, said: “Teachers, parents and pupils should now be reassured that work to rebuild Hetton School is scheduled to begin at the end of 2014.

“The department for education has also now promised that Hetton School will be receiving an extra £400,000 for a specialist speech and language unit, as part of the new building.

“However, if the government encounter further problems securing funding for the scheme, the start date could be pushed back another year. This would be unacceptable.”

Work is also held up at up to 14 other schools – including Seaham School of Technology, in County Durham – because of the PFI deadlock.

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, has warned the plans for the “batch” are “complex” and will have to be adapted further.

As a result, a commitment to seek private finance before the summer has been dropped. That will now take place “as soon as possible”.