COUNCIL officers in York have been ordered to conduct school building surveys costing £300,000 - in order to qualify for a possible £100,000 in extra funding.

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has ordered education officers to resubmit condition surveys it judged to be "unsatisfactory or well below average".

It has allocated the city £2.99 million for capital, or building, work for 2002/3, which includes £1.16 million for "condition" funding.

This figure is an average amount for local authorities and was awarded because the council's surveys were not adequate to work out a more precise award. The new surveys could mean it qualifies for another ten per cent - just over £100,000.

The surveys were carried out as part of the council education asset management plan, which has to be submitted by law to qualify for the annual capital funding, and which got a low rating overall because of the condition surveys.

Patrick Scott, education and leisure director, said: "We had hoped to be able to undertake these condition surveys without eating into the money available for actually doing work. But we were doing them to a specification that wasn't rigorous enough.

"We haven't lost any money, but some of it has been delayed until we can tell them how bad conditions are."

Coun Janet Looker, executive member for education, said the £300,000 needed would come from new Government funding to the council.

She said it was about much more than winning an extra £100,000 - it was about earning extra money for the area in future spending rounds to come once the surveys were in place.

"I would like to see York get a good rating for its asset management plan and I'm grateful for the money from the Government's modernisation fund to pay for the surveys."

Coun Steve Galloway, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said: "We would challenge the Labour group to demonstrate that this will not be a charge on York council tax payers."

Updated: 12:28 Thursday, January 17, 2002