by Lynn Cox

Medway's new academy had been given the go-ahead by the government.

The Bishop of Rochester Academy, which was under threat of not being built because of government spending cuts, has now been given the green light for building work to start.

The new academy sees the merger of Chatham South and the Medway Community College on the latter site from September.

On Friday the government announced that three academies in Medway will in fact receive their Building Schools for the Future (BSF) funding.

The building of another new academy, Brompton Academy in Gillingham, will happen later this month.

Council officers are pulling together all the financial details for the build on the site of New Brompton College, and it should be discussed at cabinet on August 17.

The school has changed its identity and name several times in the 11-year life of the authority.

The Strood Academy is already operating, but has plans to move on to a single site - it too has secured funding.

The government had said it was reviewing all three Medway academies’ building plans, after MPs said they were scrapping the fifty-five billion pound programme.

The vacated Chatham South premises will probably be allocated to Chatham Grammar School for Boys as pupils have been using cramped premises on the neighbouring school site.

The news will be welcomed by parents, students and teachers as well as Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch, who lobbied Downing Street about the issue.

Ms Crouch, said: “Having lobbied the Department for Education and Downing Street hard on this issue, I am delighted with the announcement.

“It has been an unsettling time for parents, students and teachers but now plans to build a modern single campus site can go ahead and the new academy can concentrate on improving standards in the area.”

In total eleven academies in Kent are set to be built as planned.