HEADTEACHERS say they are “dreadfully disappointed” at missing out on a multimillion pound school rebuilding programme.

Lancashire County Council bosses are expected to ask for compensation after the coalition government pulled the plug on the Building Schools for the Future programme.

County Hall has already spent thousands of pounds planning for the latest wave of the scheme.

On Monday, Education Secretary Michael Gove confirmed more than 700 projects would be stopped - including the revamp of Colne Park High, Colne Primet, Barnoldswick West Craven, Haslingden High, Fisher More, and Tor View special school in Haslingden.

Barnoldswick West Craven headteacher Arnold Kuchartschuk had hoped for a partial rebuild of his school, with a new three-storey block added at the rear backing onto a grassy courtyard area.

He said: “Obviously we are dreadfully disappointed, and it would be the same both in our area and throughout the country.

“It would have been an exciting vision for the area, but at the end of the day the government have been open and said they need to make public savings.”

Mr Kuchartschuk said the school’s vision of transforming its learning environment would continue, adding: “It’s about what goes on in a classroom, not the building itself.”

Janet Walsh, headteacher at Primet High School, Colne, said she had feared cuts to her revamp plans, which included combining the high school and primary school on the same site.

She said: “We did obviously do some planning, but at the back of our minds until something was actually signed, and bulldozers were on site, we had reservations.”

County Hall bosses are now negotiating with the Department for Education and its developer, Catalyst Lend Lease, to work out how the costs incurred over the past 12 months will be paid.

One County Hall source said the costs ran into a ‘significant amount’ but were less than £1million.

Tory councillor Susie Charles, in charge of children and schools for the county council, said she was ‘obviously disappointed’ the BSF scheme had been cancelled, but welcomed the government’s review of capital projects.