Brentwood schools which believed they were to get an extra £30,000 each from the Government will know better next time, says Brentwood and Ongar MP Eric Pickles.

He claims that the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, indicated that each secondary school would be receiving around that sum in additional capital money this financial year.

But, says Mr Pickles, local schools found they will only get sums ranging from £16,500 to £22,000 extra, instead of the £30,000 that was announced.

And after they contacted him with their concerns, he tabled Parliamentary questions to the Education Secretary, David Blunkett.

Mr Pickles' view was backed by the head teacher of Shenfield High School, John Fairhurst.

He said: "We were led to believe that we were going to get an additional £36,000, but in the end it turned out to be £19,000.

"We are grateful to have that £19,000, which we wouldn't otherwise have had and was never planned for.

"But it is worrying that announcements are made in Parliament which strongly imply that the money would be if not double that, then not far short of it."

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