SIX schools in Chester and Ellesmere Port are to be rebuilt or refurbished after securing substantial Government funding.

The multi-million pound bid includes four schools in Blacon – Dee Point Primary, Highfield Community Primary, JH Godwin Primary and Blacon High – all built in the sixties and requiring either total replacement or large-scale refurbishment within five years.

Other successful schools included in the Department for Education’s Priority School Building Programme are Christ Church CoE Primary School in Ellesmere Port and Neston High School.

Highfield is one of 42 schools throughout the country to be accorded priority status and Cheshire West and Chester Council will probably be granted direct capital funding.

Cllr Mark Stocks, executive member for children and families, said: “The bid for funds was made on the basis of need and I would like to thank the officers of the capital development team responsible for this tremendous result.

“Whilst we have asked for a rebuild in every case – something like £35m worth of funding – we will discover whether the Government is talking about are build or refurbishment within the near future.”

Capital spending on schools is one of the council’s major strategic priorities and around £73m of council resources and government grant has been earmarked for this purpose over the next three years.

Opposition children and young people spokesman, Cllr Pat Merrick, said: “This is brilliant news. I am absolutely thrilled for Blacon and also that it would appear that there is a chance of two of our major high schools being rebuilt.”