TWO new schools will open on schedule after councillors agreed to find nearly £6 million in emergency funding.

A shortfall of £11.9 million in the cost of building new secondary schools at Caldicot and Monmouth will be met with Monmouthshire Council and the Welsh Government each contributing £5.95 million.

The council’s Conservative administration also says the promise to build a new swimming pool for Monmouth as part of the school project will also be met.

Among the factors in pushing up the price were ‘abnormal’ costs because of the difficulties of construction on both site,

poor pre-tender information from the contractor which undervalued the designed and the competition for skilled workers in an ‘overheated’ construction market.

It means that the cost of the new Caldicot School, which is due to open next September, will rise from £34.9 million to £40.175 million and the new

Monmouth Comprehensive will be £47,674 – up from £41.049 million – when it opens in September 2018.

The council plans to find its share from a combination of selling assets such as redundant buildings, borrowing and using the money the schools will save on heating and maintenance.

Opposition councillors raised concerns that the schools would have to pay back the £5.95 million and that could be at the expense of staff – something the administration strong­ly rejected.

The council’s chief executive, Paul Matthews, said: “If we agree to the funding uplift the pledge to open Caldicot in 2017 is intact and the pledge to open Monmouth in 2018 is intact.

“The Monmouth campus has been more of a challenge than Caldicot because effectively we are building a new school on an island.

“Only a small part of site capable of holding a school and we have to go down 11m to find base rock.

At Caldicot we are effectively building on a beach. To stabilise that environment requires a certain form of construction.”

He said the council had received “less than optimal advice” from the contractor which resulted in the programme team being completely replaced.

Labour group leader, Cllr Dmitri Batrouni (St Christopher’s) said: “The Labour group supports the extra money but we are not prepared to make future generations in Monmouth and Caldicot pay.

“If we have to borrow or sell I’ve no problem with that but I have a massive problem with making future generations in Monmouth and Caldicot pay.”

Deputy leader Cllr Bob Greenland (Con, Wolvesnewton) said: “In the first instance we will look for surplus buildings.

“We will also take into account the savings on energy and maintenance

and prudential borrowing. “Let’s not allow this ridiculous notion that we are going to take money away from schools which doesn’t allow them to pay for schoolteachers.”

An motion from the Independent group that the option to take money from energy and maintenance savings be dropped was defeated.