NORTH Yorkshire's largest comprehensive school this week received a £3.5 million boost from the Government to rid it of its dangerous asbestos.

The cash hand-out for South Craven School, Cross Hills, was part of a package of measures announced by education secretary David Blunkett on Tuesday.

South Craven's share came from the New Deal for Schools budget - the latest phase in a drive to reduce the backlog of repairs and modernise schools across the country.

The school is the only secondary school in North Yorkshire to be given any cash this time around.

A large chunk of the money will be used to rid the building of asbestos, a problem reported in the Herald back in January.

The rest is to be ploughed into refurbishments of the school's boilers, its playgrounds and car parks, re-roofing and some minor classroom structural work.

Chairman of governors John Daley told the Herald: "We're delighted that we've got this money.

"The bid was put together because we had an asbestos problem at the school.

"Around £2 million will be for that and the remainder will be for building improvements.

"Over recent years with very tight budgets maintenance is one of the things that we've had to cut.

"We've been quite anxious because the state of the learning environment reflects a lot on the school. The better the environment the better the children seem to perform."

South Craven School, which has more than 1,700 pupils from both North and West Yorkshire, was built in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the use of asbestos was very common.

Its many rooms have wall and ceiling panels which contain the material which can be hazardous if its dust is inhaled in large quantities.

Specialist consultants brought in by education chiefs at North Yorkshire County Council conducted more than 300 tests throughout the school.

The testing last year led to one classroom being sealed off until the asbestos was removed and it was given the all-clear.

Panels containing asbestos can either be completely removed or covered over in a process known as encapsulation.

The work is expected to be completed in time for the new millennium.

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