Education Secretary Michael Gove has insisted the Government will continue to invest in schools that are bursting at the seams.

And he pledged in the House of Commons yesterday to work with MPs, parents and teachers to help resolve the overcrowding at Bingley and Ilkley Grammar schools.

He was responding to questions asked by Shipley Conservative MP Philip Davies about his decision last week to axe re-building projects at the two schools. Both were due to be re-built under the £337 million third phase of Bradford Council’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

New-build and refurbishment projects involving 17 other Bradford schools and two academies have been affected by the nationwide scrapping of the BSF programme.

Responding to Mr Davies, Mr Gove said: “The BSF programme has been over-bureaucratic and inefficient. I therefore decided that where financial close has not been reached each project provided under BSF could not go ahead.

“Ilkley and Bingley grammar school projects have not reached financial close and BSF plans for these two schools have therefore stopped. However, we will continue to invest in schools’ capital projects.”

Mr Davies argued that the catchment areas of Bingley and Ilkley had experienced excessive house building, squeezing places at their existing sites. He asked Mr Gove if he could ensure schools that need new buildings to increase capacity would still get capital expenditure.

Mr Gove said: “As a result of our capital review, we will ensure that where there is additional population pressure, particularly in primary schools, which BSF did not cover, we will provide the support that is necessary, and I look forward to working with you in order to help the parents and the teachers in these two great schools.”

Shadow Education Secretary Ed Balls called on Mr Gove to re-think his decision to cut BSF projects.

Mr Balls said: “If he had any sense he would end this shambles, withdraw these error-strewn lists and let our communities have our new schools.”

But Mr Gove said taxpayers in Bingley and Ilkley had elected Conservative MPs because they were “disgusted with the waste and squander” of Labour.

Adam Daly, deputy head teacher at Ilkley Grammar, said planning for the school’s future had been put in limbo by the cancellation of the BSF programme.

He said: “It is good to hear a commitment to capital investment in education. We need to know as soon as possible what that could mean for Ilkley Grammar School. Without the necessary investment in the school we will not be able to fulfil the admission desires of the local community. The current uncertainty makes it difficult to plan and causes unnecessary worry for students and parents alike.”