EDUCATION chiefs have rubbished claims that the massive £400million revamp of East Lancashire's secondary schools is in doubt.

Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove suggested that a Government review of its £45billion Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme meant that the Prime Minister was "quietly abandoning" the project.

Labour pledged in its 2005 manifesto to renew or rebuild every state secondary school by 2015.

But the Government has denied the Conservative claims, saying that the review was being carried out to "get the investment right", not to halt it.

Lancashire County Council was one of the first wave of authorities to be selected for BSF, and has £250million to build seven new secondary schools and a sixth form centre in Burnley and Pendle, the first three of which are due to open in September 2008.

Blackburn with Darwen Council's proposals to deliver a £150million education shake-up by 2015 are currently being considered by the Government, part of the fourth of the first six BSF waves.

The Government's review is concerned with those 76 local authorities in the next nine waves which do not yet have finalised BSF schemes.

Therefore Lancashire county and Blackburn with Darwen's projects should go ahead as planned.

Tim Byles, chief executive of Partnerships for Schools, the Government body set up to help councils deliver BSF, said: "BSF is not being halted.

"A forthcoming consultation with local authorities will consider the best order in which the remaining local authorities will enter the programme.

"As the Education Select Committee has recently acknowledged, it is more important to get this investment right rather than just to spend the money quickly.

"BSF isn't about throwing up new schools as quickly as possible and hoping for the best It's about transforming education for millions of young people.

"We make no apology for taking the time to get this right."

The country's first BSF school, Bristol Brunel Academy, opened last month, and a further 11 are expected to open in the spring, but the Government has come under fire for being behind in the project.

The completion date is now more likely to be 2026, 11 years after Gordon Brown's original target.