With all the new homes promised in the Thames Gateway, will there be services to match? Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Essex has discovered despite government promises services will be in place, some schools in Thurrock could not cope with more students. Thurrock Council says it needs hundreds of millions of pounds from the government to urgently improve eight of its secondary schools. So far money has been found to replace only one of them, with the state of the art, G-shaped Gateway Academy. Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Essex's Andy Gordon has been to Thurrock to see the challenges faced by the area's schools.
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We have invited the Department of Communitees and Local Government to comment on these claims and are awaiting a response. In a statement the Department for Education told us: "It's up to individual authorities to work with their schools and head teachers to provide sufficient places based on pupil projections.Μύ That's why we've injected unprecedented amounts of capital investment into schools to support them transform their local education. "Capital funding for Essex schools has increased dramatically in recent years.Μύ In 1997-98 our allocation was Β£11.5 million.Μύ And between 2005 to 2008 it will total over Β£159 million." | 
