Councils in need of special school places have expressed 鈥渦nease鈥 over the need for a repeated review and approval of new building projects, saying any further delays risk provision opening late. A senior Department for Education official this week confirmed the new administration was 鈥渨orking through urgent decisions and taking time to understand those鈥. Bracknell Forest in Berkshire was one of 30 council areas selected last March to receive a new special free school in wave three of the programme. 鈥楿nease鈥 of special school reviews At the in Manchester this week, a council official asked Jane Balderstone, the DfE鈥檚 director of construction delivery, what was happening. He said the project had been 鈥済oing fine鈥he lawyers are all happy, but four weeks ago we were told the minister has called everything in so they can鈥檛 even give us a start date now鈥. 鈥淚f that鈥檚 true, when will we know that our project can go forward? The big trouble we鈥檝e got for that is if it drags on we will have a problem delivering those spaces to young people when they鈥檙e needed.鈥 Balderstone replied that it was 鈥済enuinely a case of working through urgent decisions and taking time to understand those as a new government鈥. Grainne Siggins, from the council, said that 鈥渄ue to government changes, this scheme is required to be re-presented to ministers for approval鈥. 鈥淏racknell Forest Council is currently awaiting the outcome of this review, and a response is expected imminently.鈥 Lincolnshire was one of 16 areas selected in March this year to receive a new special free school in wave four of the programme. At the conference, Eileen McMorrow from Lincolnshire County Council also asked for an update. 鈥淟ocal authorities have a sense of unease at the moment, because it feels very quiet. So just wondered if there was an update.鈥 Balderstone said there was not, but 鈥渨e鈥檙e working through those, as you would expect, and we will come back to colleagues as soon as possible鈥. Martin Smith, the council鈥檚 assistant director for children鈥檚 education, said it 鈥渢ook this opportunity鈥 to ask for reassurance that the new school鈥檚 importance was recognised and that progress would be made soon. Labour commits to projects Stephen Morgan, the minister in charge of school estates, this week recommitted the new administration to continuing with the school rebuilding programme and annual condition funding awards. It comes after the BBC reported that of more than 500 schools selected for rebuilds, contracts had been awarded for just 62. Morgan at the Education Estates conference Asked if rebuilds would go ahead as planned, Balderstone said for schools given indicative start dates it was 鈥渟till our plan that we will come to those schools around those indicative start dates鈥. Tim Warneford, an academy funding consultant, said: 鈥淢y sense is in absolutely every area, whether it’s school rebuilding programme, whether it’s RACC projects, whether it’s special projects, anything that you name, there seems to be an absolute dearth of comms. 鈥淚t may be, to be fair to them, that they just want to lift up the bonnet and understand what’s going on.鈥 He said there was a 鈥渢on of goodwill鈥 for the new government鈥檚 agenda, 鈥渂ut at some stage, the elephant in the room is a 拢15 billion backlog funding requirement鈥. In 2021, the DfE estimated repairing or replacing all defects in England鈥檚 schools would cost more than 拢11 billion. That figure is likely to have increased, with the National Audit Office last year warning of a 拢2 billion annual gap in funding. 鈥淲e would hope at some stage that we would be communicated with in terms of 鈥 what we can expect,鈥 Warneford said. Labour said little during the election campaign and since about how it will approach capital funding, with much of it hingeing on the budget and spending review later this month. According to reports, chancellor Rachel Reeves is weighing up whether to change fiscal rules to unlock extra borrowing to provide more capital cash for projects such as schools and hospitals. CIF under review But the new government has ordered a review of the system for maintenance funding to schools, as concerns grow that the current set-up is 鈥渢oo complicated鈥. Officials are also working on a 鈥渆ducation estates management portal鈥 to bring together its interactions with trusts and councils over site issues behind a 鈥渟ingle front door鈥. Dr Jonathan Dewsbury Dr Jonathan Dewsbury, the department鈥檚 director of education estates and net zero, told the conference on Monday it knew there was 鈥渞oom for improvement鈥 in how the condition improvement fund (CIF) and the school condition allocation (SCA) programme functioned. Asked whether CIF was working, he said the government was 鈥渞eally keen to make sure that consistency of funding continues. But I think our conversations with the sector and with responsible bodies, in particular those small trusts that access CIF, it鈥檚 perhaps too complicated and not in some places as accessible as it needs to be. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we need to work through and work out a better way of thinking through that type of programme.鈥 Lindsay Harris, the deputy director of education estates, said the DfE in the next year would look at the 鈥渨hole mix of how we provide maintenance funding, SCA and CIF鈥. He said the 2025 CIF round, which will open shortly, would follow 鈥渞oughly the format that it鈥檚 taken in recent years. Then we鈥檒l be reviewing in parallel for 2026 onwards, but I don鈥檛 know what that will look like yet.鈥 Morgan told the conference the government was 鈥渃ommitted to improving the condition of school buildings through annual funding, fixing the problem of RAAC and continuing the school rebuilding programme鈥. But he said that, 鈥渁s demographic shifts in the coming years, the estate will have to serve new requirements鈥. That meant 鈥渢hinking beyond just rebuilding. In the long term, we want to rebalance our approach, prioritising sustainable maintenance and retrofit for energy efficiency and climate resilience.鈥