PLANS to rebuild two primary schools have fallen through due to a lack of funds.

Ashmead, Childeric, Downderry and Gordon Brock primary schools were part of a £69m Private Finance Initiative (PFI) programme.

The cash comes from a private consortium called Bouygues Education Ltd, which is made up of Bouygues UK, Ecovert FM and HSBC.

Four schools were to share £9m and the remaining £60m spent on Crofton, Forest Hill and Greenvale secondary schools in Lewisham.

But only two of the primaries, Ashmead, Ashmead Road, Deptford, and Childeric, Childeric Road, Lewisham, will be modernised because the £9m will not cover costs for all four primary schools.

Mayor Steve Bullock will be asked to agree this recommendation at tonight's mayor and cabinet meeting.

But headteacher Colin Edwards, of Downderry School, Downderry Road, Downham, is disappointed after years of campaigning for PFI money.

He said: "I'm annoyed. I've spent seven years on the project. The school is in such a disgraceful state.

"We haven't spent any money on it because we have been waiting for PFI money to come through.

"After our investment in time and effort and then to have the rug pulled under our feet is totally unsatisfactory.

"The council will have to look at alternatives for funding to rebuild and refurbish this school."

The 80-year-old school would have benefited from structural improvements and would have been partly knocked down to make way for a bigger play area.

Mr Bullock said: "We have lobbied hard to include funding for all our schools and we have done all we can to stick to the original programme, but rising costs have meant the money made available by the DfES falls short of that needed.

"We haven't given up on finding alternative ways of completing our plans and we are investigating all other options."