Call for county council to identify schools at risk of collapse

Following the announcement that the Department for Education had instructed schools to close any building made with aerated concrete, Peter Lamb–Labour candidate for Crawley—has led calls for West Sussex to quickly identify schools in the county at risk of collapse.

Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete was used in the construction of schools and colleges from the 1950s until the mid-1990s. While the material looks like standard concrete, it is significantly less durable and at risk of failure without warning, resulting in the decision of the DfE this week to instruct schools not to allow pupils into buildings where the material is present.

Due to the lack of records on the materials involved in the construction of schools, identifying the presence of RAAC requires that an asset survey is conducted of each building. Yet, despite surveys revealing that a third of schools nationally contain RAAC, a Freedom of Information request submitted by Cllr Lamb reveals that West Sussex County Council has yet to identify a single school where the material is present.

Calling for action, Peter Lamb said:

“The risk of RAAC to the safety of children in schools has been known for years. Yet, the lack of progress on asset surveys in our area means that despite figures nationally indicating that at least a third of schools contain the material, West Sussex County Council has yet to identify a single one.

“With the Department for Education ordering that pupils are not to enter any building containing RAAC due to the risk of collapse. This is clearly now an emergency. If WSCC fail to treat this work as their top priority, they will have blood on their hands.”