Thousands spent on repairs at Wolverhampton school just two years after £17 million refurb
A Wolverhampton school which underwent a £17. 5m revamp only two years ago has already been forced to splash out thousands of pounds on repair works, it has emerged.
Coppice Performing Arts School faced a deficit of £260,237 last year, with a chunk of the debt attributed to a number of remedial works to its stylish new buildings in Ecclestone Road.
The school's state-of-the-art facilities were completed early in 2013 as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme.
But a report to Wolverhampton City Council's Audit Committee revealed that the school had to foot the bill for additional work to ensure health and safety requirements were maintained.
The report says the school has made a claim against an unnamed building contractor in a bid to recoup the costs.
But it says that while negotiations are ongoing, 'it is becoming increasingly unlikely that a substantial proportion of the claimed costs will be refunded to the school by the contractor'.
The school's deficit was compounded by the 'high energy costs' of running the new facilities and a number of unpaid invoices.
The situation could have been far worse.
Council bosses revealed a potential deficit of almost £500,000 earlier in the year and forced the school to revise its spending plans.
According to the report this led the authority to issue the school with a 'notice of concern' to ensure it can place 'greater restrictions' on the school's spending.
The previous year, the school's deficit had been £36,966.
The school, which was told it requires improvement following an Ofsted inspection in February last year, has unveiled a strategy to recoup cash.
This includes increasing the Year 7 intake from 160 to 180 and changing some building and catering contracts.
Wednesfield High School has also built up a deficit of £375,000 over the same period. Although the school has now converted to academy status the deficit has remained the authority's responsibility.
