By Anika Bourley Parliamentary Correspondent

Last updated 13:48, Monday, 01 December 2008

Flagship plans to rebuild secondary schools in Cumbria may be affected by spending cuts triggered by the credit crunch.

The revelation – unearthed in the small print of the emergency budget – is the starkest evidence yet of how spending will be slashed after the next election.

A little-noticed section of the budget book says the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is “assessing the value for money” of later waves of the Building Schools for the Future programme, after wave six.

It throws doubt on the rebuilding programme in Cumbria which does not start until wave 10.

But today, council chiefs will submit a bid to push the case to get immediate funding for West Cumbria, which if successful would bring £180 million to the county for capital programmes.

Options in a council document in October revealed plans for an academy in Workington from the merger of Stainburn and Southfield Schools, rebuilds of Solway Community College in Silloth and Netherhall School in Maryport, remodelling of Whitehaven School and a possibility that Solway and Beacon Hill in Aspatria could operate as a federated school over two sites.

A Cumbria County Council spokesman said it was submitting a bid as planned.

“The Government has invited bids for wave 7 of the Building Schools for the Future programme and the deadline for those bids is now,” he said.

“We will be submitting a proposal for £80m to be invested in five schools in West Cumbria which we see as the immediate priority in phase one of BSF.

“As far as we are aware, the Government will be responding to which of the 150 bids from local authorities have been successful in April 2009 and will then release funds to make the transformation happen.”

Each wave has two phases so it would be £80 million for the detailed submission on west Cumbrian schools with a further £100 million to follow which means other parts of the county could benefit.

Council chiefs are expected to submit very specific plans for the first phase in an attempt to get the funding.