BRADFORD Council and the Department For Education both have very different estimates of how much it would cost to repair all the district's schools, a meeting has been told.

The council's Children's Services scrutiny committee was discussing the backlog maintenance costs for council run schools in Bradford at a meeting last night, a figure that has just been revealed as £45,409,252.

That figure was up from an estimated £38,788,675 in October.

The rise was partially attributed to an unsuccessful bid for government funding to refurbish or re-build eight schools, including Queensbury School, which the council had hoped the government would help re-build, Lilycroft Primary School in Manningham, Shipley CofE Primary School and Sandal Primary School in Baildon. The costs of bringing these schools up to scratch has now been absorbed into the council's budget estimates.

Just over £12.4 million of estimated backlog maintenance is classed as "priority one" - the most urgent repairs such as fixing boilers or repairing roofs. This is up from £11.1 million in October.

Although the money the government provides for school maintenance in Bradford did rise in the past year, the £5.87 million provided would not be enough to carry out even half the priority one works.

Yesterday's committee meeting heard that the figure was estimated by council officers after regular building condition surveys.

The government's Schools Funding Agency also carries out "property data surveys" of school buildings which determine how much funding is provided to schools. The results of these surveys have in the past been challenged by the council for allegedly underestimating the cost of repair works. The report to yesterday's committee had said: "The Authority found that, in the main, the Property Data Surveys were not as detailed and comprehensive as its own surveys."

This issue was raised at last night's meeting. Chairman of the committee Councillor Malcolm Sykes (Conservative) said: "When it comes to what the government is saying, it seem's we are miles apart in what we think the repair work will cost."

Ian Smart from the education buildings team on the council replied: "The surveys undertaken by the Education Funding Agency seemed to be very light touch compared to surveys of the same schools we undertook."

Cllr Sykes replied: "It seems like this light touch approach has been used to determine the grant funding the council gets. I'm unhappy that there is such a great difference of opinion about the way these properties have been inspected, and I think there is room for further enquiries about that."

When asked if the district's schools were safe, Mr Smart said: "Our schools are safe. We prioritise works as category one when they may become a health and safety risk." He said the council aimed to tackle all priority one repairs as soon as possible. He added: "The more funding we get, the more priority issues we can deal with."

The backlog works are divided into four categories, with the lowest, category four, being for mainly cosmetic issues like painted walls and flooring. Because of budget issues, only category one repairs are usually commissioned.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, education spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said the council should develop an investment plan for its school buildings, which would give the government a better idea about what needed to be done in future.

Councillor Susan Hinchliffe, executive for education on the council, said: "We need to have a good relationship with the Education Funding Agency and make sure if there is any money available for these repairs, we get it. But at the moment it doesn't seem the government has much money for Bradford's schools."