MINSTER College on Sheppey has missed out on £10 million of education funding, prompting suggestions that the island is receiving a raw deal from Kent County Council.

The Island's only high school was one of eight Kent schools vying for a share of £60 million of private finance initiative funding allocated to the county council.

The announcement that it was one of three schools that would miss out on a share has angered the school's head teacher and Swale county councillor Matt Wheatcroft (Lab), who said it was another example of Sheppey being neglected.

He said: "I am extremely upset. I think the money that has come to Kent would have been an important investment in the future of education on the Island.

"We have a serious problem in Sheppey with growing numbers of children. I really can't think of an area in Kent which has a more pressing need."

Cllr Wheatcroft agreed that splitting the county council money, which was £32million less that it had hoped for, would just lead to half-cocked schemes. But he called for the decision on how the money should be allocated to be called in for scrutiny by councillors.

He added: "I cannot understand for a moment what criteria have been used and how the successful schools have been sorted from the others."

Staff at Minster College spent two years and thousands of pounds of staff time preparing the PFI bid. Head teacher Hugh Robinson said: "We are not happy. We are still going to keep on a school improvement drive, but this would have been a major boost."

The college in Minster Road had bid for £10 million to build a new fitness studio, sports hall, teaching rooms, vocational buildings and science rooms, and refurbish existing school buildings.