KEEPING Derbyshire's schools fit for purpose is a job akin to painting the Forth Bridge – it never stops – believes education chief Les Allen.

Mr Allen, city council cabinet member for children and young people, said: "All money we get for school repairs in our budget has been invested in carrying them out – and our schools have been keen to put some of their own money into projects as well – but it is not enough and never will be without massive investment specifically for repairs."

About £219m has been spent by the city council over the past 12 years on school repairs, rebuilding, new build and modernisation, using a variety of Government cash pots.

This has included new infant classrooms to ensure there are no more than 30 pupils in a class, security fencing at most schools, disabled toilets, access ramps, asbestos removal and boiler replacement – and up to 10 new schools.

Councils are also given money annually to carry out repairs through their modernisation budgets and schools are encouraged to chip in with money given to them directly.

Also, there are two ongoing Government projects aimed at improving schools – Building Schools for the Future, for secondary schools, and the Primary Capital programme for replacing and refurbishing infant, junior and primary schools.

The city has a list of improvements or repairs presently costed at £60m, but has less than £3m modernisation money a year available from the Government.

In the next few years, £200m earmarked as part of the Government's BSF project will rebuild and refurbish the city's secondary schools.

Similar BSF projects and primary capital projects are being funded in county council schools.

But none of these projects have touched the overall backlog of repairs, which continues to increase each year because the schools are ageing, and rewiring a school does not stop it having problems with its toilets or boiler.

This can only be resolved by a massive influx of capital that would clear the backlog at a stroke or rebuild all schools.

Lawn Primary has been waiting for four years for its repairs to be finished.

With just £4m in the kitty and a repair backlog of £50m in 2006, the city council had no choice but to do the work at the Allestree school in stages.

In an ideal world, about £5m would probably have built a new school, but councils rarely have the benefit of that much money to spend on one school, especially one not in a deprived area or with poor results.

So the phased repairs at Lawn Primary go on, with plans to create new disabled access and replace "grotty" toilets that the pupils have been campaigning to change for years, costing £350,000.

The final repair bill for a new roof, windows, rewiring and structural wall repairs will run into millions.

But because it is part of an ongoing programme, what little money the council has each year can be more easily shared out among more schools.

Head teacher Penny Bennett said: "It's been a big upheaval but so far the school is looking much better and the children will be pleased when we get rid of the grotty toilets."

The basic problems are much the same for the county council, but have intensified after cabinet member Councillor Mike Longden revealed that he only has a tiny £750,000, instead of £7.2m, to tackle the authority's £131m school repairs backlog.

He blames the previous Labour administration for pre-spending too much money last year.

Mr Longden said he has recently seen for himself rainwater leaking through roofs and props supporting ceilings at Mickley Infants' School at Stretton, near Alfreton, while repairs have been carried out.

He added that he fears some buildings may have to be demolished if nothing is done.

"Without a doubt, money is a major problem," he said.

Mr Longden says most of the schools with problems were buildings dating from the 1950s through to the 1970s, especially those with flat roofs.

He said: "We need to encourage schools to use some of their own money where possible to match-fund any that we have. We also need to make sure we are getting best value through the tendering process."

The county's backlog of repairs has doubled in the past 10 years – in 1998 it was around £65m.

Disappointed by the lack of money is Roy Dolan, deputy head teacher at William Allitt School in Newhall.

He said the governing body had applied to the county council for cash for two new classrooms to cope with an expected increase in the number of pupils.

He said: "We have been told there isn't any money to pay for this, although it was suggested we could look into hiring some temporary buildings using our own money.

"We have undergone two replacement window projects at a cost of £1.4m and a third one is due to start in March.

"But there is still a backlog of improvements needed mainly because the school, which was built in 1960, has already doubled its exceeded life span of 25 years."

The Department for Education said spending on school building since 1997 has been £53bn, with £21.9bn given from 2008 to 2011.

A Government spokesman said: "The strategy followed is to allocate much of the government's schools capital funding to local authorities and devolve decision-making to them.

"This allows them to decide on local priorities – decisions which they are in the right place to make."

But John Holmes, spokesman for the Derbyshire branch of the National Union of Teachers, said although plenty of money had been spent on schools, clearly it was not enough.

He said: "There is evidence of repairs and change at many schools but it has still left large parts of the same schools needing more repair.

"Our health and safety representative visits schools at the request of our members.

"There has been 40 years of under-spending on schools from successive governments and that is going to be very hard to make up," he warned.