Question asked over Amble school cash

The guarantee of a multimillion-pound commitment to transform schooling in Amble has been questioned, with one councillor saying: '˜I can't see it in the budget'.
An artists' impression of the school plans.An artists' impression of the school plans.
An artists' impression of the school plans.

Last month, the Gazette exclusively reported that £9million has been set aside to overhaul Amble’s James Calvert Spence College, bringing the middle school onto the high-school site at Acklington Road. A major refurbishment of the high school is also planned.

The funding is said to be coming from the county council’s capital investment programme, but at Thursday’s Amble Town Council meeting, Coun Jeff Watson said that he couldn’t see a specific allocation for it in the budget.

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He said: “I welcome this – it is excellent – but I can’t find the money in the budget to say that it is happening. Where is it? It’s not in the plan?”

Coun Helen Lewis agreed, adding: “It isn’t clear.”

But Coun Robert Arckless insisted that the money is there and the commitment stands.