Leeds councillor says Government ignored 'risk to life' school buildings warning - five years before RAAC disaster

Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Deputy Leader of Leeds City Council, contacted the Government’s Department for Education (DfE) eight times between July 2018 and December 2021. Concerns were raised over Benton Park School in Rawdon, Wetherby High and Oulton Academy.

It comes as over 100 UK schools, including Woodkirk Academy in Tingley, were confirmed to feature a type of concrete, described as “80 per cent air” and “like an Aero Bar.”

Known as reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), the material was used to construct schools, colleges, and other buildings between the 1950s and mid-’70s in the UK, but has since been found to be “susceptible to failure.”

Coun Pryor said: “The Government have known about these school building concerns for years and chose to ignore all warnings and pleas from us here in Leeds.

“I am beyond relieved that as a Labour Council, we stepped in and acted in rebuilding Benton Park when the Government simply refused, but we still have a huge school repair backlog that the Government continue to refuse to fund.”

In 2020, City Council went ahead with a £28m rebuild of Benton Park, because the “state of the school was such that we simply could not wait”, as well as concrete issues, parts of the school had been forced to close as the roof had fallen in.

In 2022, City Council announced a rebuild of Wetherby High, before Government later announced that it would be rebuilt at “some point in the next 10 years.” The council is awaiting official confirmation over requests to move this date forward.

Coun Pryor added: “It has been reported that while he was Chancellor, Rishi Sunak was warned of a “critical risk to life” if he did not properly fund school repairs and he still cut that money.

“We need to know exactly what advice Sunak was provided with and when, the Prime Minister has some very serious questions to answer.”

Face-to-face lessons continue at Woodkirk Academy, following its inclusion on the DfE’s official list of schools with RAAC. A “small area” of the school has been shut as the academy’s operator, Leodis Academies Trust, works alongside City Council to ensure “minimal disruption” is caused to students.