Two North East schools faced with closure and term delays due to crumbling concrete had funding for refurbishment withdrawn more than a decade ago, it has been revealed.

Nineteen schools impacted by the Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) issue nationally, including Ferryhill School in County Durham and Carmel College, in Darlington, had funding earmarked for building projects axed in 2010. 

These schools had been set for rebuilding work under the Labour scheme Building Schools for the Future (BSF) - but this project was scrapped by the Conservative-led government following the 2010 general election. 

Now, school buildings have been closed after a potentially dangerous crumbling RAAC was found on the premises. 

Read more: Three more North East schools confirm RAAC government list

Following this analysis, politicians and parents are raising concerns that the planned £55bn BSF investment could have precluded the RAAC crisis that has seen thousands of students prevented from commencing face-to-face education this month. 

When the BSF scheme was scrapped, then education secretary Michael Gove said BSF was characterised by "massive overspends, tragic delays, botched construction projects and needless bureaucracy".

A review of the BSF scheme found the allocation of funding for school buildings had been "complex, time-consuming, expensive and opaque".

After the funding was withdrawn, over 700 projects were shelved, including work at Carmel College and Ferryhill School. 

Last week, Carmel College and Sixth Form announced that it would only be partially opened after RAAC was found in the kitchen and library. 

Ferryhill School in County Durham confirmed in an email to parents since posted on social media and seen by the Echo, that two of its buildings are affected by potentially dangerous RAAC.

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The kitchen and library are being temporarily vacated, but all year groups will still be attending school next week.

Bridget Phillipson MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary said: “The decisions taken by the Conservatives, including the Prime Minister, have led us to the chaos families in the North East are experiencing up and down this country today. 

“Conservative Ministers, including the current Schools Minister, did away with Labour’s Building Schools for the Future programme which would have rebuilt Ferryhill School and Carmel College in County Durham and Darlington."

The issues faced by Carmel College and Ferryhill school were mentioned in Prime Minister's Questions today by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. 

He said: "Carmel College and Ferryhill School were both on Labour's building list in 2010 - they scrapped it, and now children there are in crumbling schools. 

"The truth is this crisis is that it's the inevitable result of 13 years of cutting corners, botched jobs, and sticking plaster politics.

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"Isn't the Prime Minister ashamed that after 13 years of Tory government, children are cowering under steel supports stopping their classrooms from falling in."

However, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak responded: "This is exactly the kind of thing we have come to expect from political optimism we have come to expect from Captain Hindsight. 
"He never once raised this issue with me across this dispatch box."