by political editor Paul Francis

Calls for a new grammar school in Kent should not be given priority over schools whose rebuilding was dashed by the coaltion government, according to the opposition Labour group at Kent County Council.

Dozens of schools in Kent had been hoping to see their premises either rebuilt or refurbished under the previous government's Building Schools for The Future programme.

But the coalition scrapped the scheme to save money - leaving many schools in the lurch.

Now Labour says they should not be overlooked when Kent County Council considers a call by parents in Sevenoaks to create a new grammar school.

Cllr Les Christie (Lab) said it would be wrong if KCC gave greater weight to give those pressing for more grammar school places than to schools that had seen their redevelopment schemes scrapped.

Speaking at a meeting of KCC's cross-party backbench overview committee on education, Mr Christie said: "The schools that were in the £1.8bn programme should be in the pot for consideration for our capital programme in future years.

"When the Sevenoaks grammar proposal comes up, presumably KCC will be taking into account where the priorities lie in spending the limited amount of money we have?"

Some 1,500 parents have signed a petition urging KCC to consider creating a new grammar school in Sevenoaks. They say too many children have to travel out of the area to attend a selective school.

The Conservative-run authority says it will look at the idea and is working up options for a satellite school affiliated to an existing selective school.

Cllr Mike Whiting (Con), KCC's cabinet member for education, said the BSF programme was not relevant to the authority's considerations.

"Part of the argument for any new school is where there is basic need for new places, which is separate from what the Building Schools for The Future scheme wasw trying to achieve.

"We are fighting with the government to release as much capital finance as we can to improve the lot of those schools that were stopped under BSF."

The call for a new grammar school will be debated at a full council meeting in March.

While the government opposes entirely new grammars, it has said the popular over-subscribed schools will be permitted to expand to meet demand for places.