31st August 2026
Internal reports show Stockport Council closed a major shortfall on the North Reddish primary school by increasing the available budget rather than cutting costs
Internal project reports obtained by this newspaper reveal how a £2.4 million funding shortfall on Stockport’s planned new primary school in North Reddish was eliminated between 2006 and 2008 — not by reducing the cost of the scheme, but by substantially increasing the money made available for it.
A Highlight Report covering the period 15 May to 27 July 2006 recorded available funding of £5.80 million against a projected overall cost of £8.20 million for the 2.5-form-entry school plus children’s centre. The variance — a shortfall of £2.40 million — was clearly flagged.
By the time of the next available Highlight Report, covering 15 April to 15 May 2008, the picture had changed completely. Available funding had risen to £9.94 million and the projected overall cost stood at exactly the same figure. The variance was recorded as zero.
The documents show that the projected cost of the scheme continued to climb. Early estimates had been in the region of £5.5 million. By mid-2006 the figure had reached £8.2 million. By spring 2008 it stood at £9.94 million — the sum formally noted by the Council’s Executive when it approved the Compulsory Purchase Order for the Harcourt Street site.
What closed the gap was not a reduction in projected spending. Instead the “available funding” line was increased by more than £4 million so that it matched the higher estimated cost.
The reports form part of the internal monitoring of the project that eventually became Vale View Primary School. They sit alongside other contemporary documents that recorded “obvious concern over funding” in 2007 and a high risk that Environment Agency drainage requirements would exceed the provisional sum set aside for them.
The final cost of the completed school, and a full breakdown of how the additional funding was sourced, have never been published in detail.
