TWO Edmonton schools have been left in limbo after the Government delayed a decision on redevelopment plans until after the summer recess.

Education minister Michael Gove has postponed until October a decision whether to scrap funding for the schools, which are in the process of being transformed into academies.

Gladys Aylward and Turin Grove schools will now have to wait until after the Comprehensive Spending Review is published on October 20 to hear whether the refurbishment plans promised by the Labour Government under the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme will go ahead.

Gladys Aylward School, in Windmill Lane, and Turin Grove School and College, in Turin Grove, will reopen as Aylward Academy and Nightingale Academy in September.

Funding for Oasis Academy Hadley, in Bell Lane, Enfield, will also be decided in October.

Edmonton MP Andy Love, who wrote to Mr Gove about the issue before Parliament went on recess but did not receive an answer, called the delay "cruel and disruptive".

He said: “It’s unfair for the education minister to drag the decisions of funding out any longer than he already has.

"To make teachers, pupils, parents and whole communities wait until late in October to find out what the future holds for their schools in terms of redevelopments is both cruel and disruptive.

“If the final decisions over whether Gladys Aylward and Turin Grove were to have their money cut or not had been made before summer recess, as I had requested, then the new academies would know exactly what position they were in ready for the new academic year in September.

“As it is, all we can do is wait."

In his letter, Mr Gove said: "As you know, we've been operating within financial constraints, and we have had to work hard to ensure we get the best possible value for taxpayers' money.

"But I'm determined that we press ahead with the academies programme and I am committed to working with sponsors to ensure we can help as many children as possible.

"Where building work is scheduled to start later, or where complexities have arisen which require specific additional attention, we will work with sponsors now to see what scope there is to reduce costs and bureaucracy so projects can proceed more cost-effectively and quickly in the future."

Enfield North MP Nick de Bois (Con) blamed the situation on the former Labour Government.

He said: "The decisions to review BSF programmes are a legacy of the last Labour Government's complete failure to manage the economy.

"We have no alternative but to wait for both the outcome of the spending review and to examine ways in which economies may be made on individual programmes before the final outcomes are decided."

Southgate MP David Burrowes (Con) added: "The big problem is the legacy left by the previous Government of a lengthy bureaucratic process that did not deliver value for money.

"Enfield is now faced with an acute primary school places shortage at a time of public funding restraint and Labour in their glass house should apologise rather than throw stones at the new Government as it sorts out the mess it has inherited."