Funding shake-up sets back UCL Academy

The flagship UCL Academy in Camden has been forced to delay opening for a year after the Government announced it would review funding for the project.

The school, which had been due to open next year, will not now take pupils until 2012 because of delays to construction after the "Building Schools for the Future" programme was scrapped in July. In a subsequent education department review, the project got the go-ahead last month.

Camden councillor Heather Johnson, cabinet member for children, schools and families, said: "It's extremely frustrating for families who hoped for a place next year."

It came as Business Secretary Vince Cable named 20 London colleges — including the Mary Ward Centre in Bloomsbury, Bexley College and the Working Men's College in Camden — that will be given cash to improve their buildings. Across the country, 149 colleges will share £50 million.