City schools £250m boost approved

Money has been secured for four secondary schools in Leicester to be replaced and the rest to be renovated.

The government has given the final go ahead to the £250m investment in secondary education.

Last year Leicester was named as one of just 15 authorities earmarked for improvements to secondary schools.

Babington, Judgemeadow, Riverside and Soar Valley community colleges will be replaced under Private Funding Initiative (PFI) schemes.

Other secondary schools will have between £8 and £20m of government cash spent on each of them to bring facilities up to date.

The only exception is New College - the school has been struggling to raise standards - and has one of the worst GCSE pass rates in the country.

A separate application is now being made for New College to be turned into a City Academy.