EDUCATION bosses have defended the cost of the new refurbishments to Millom Infants School.

The school is undergoing a £750,000 project to replace the roof and rewiring the school as well as providing temporary classrooms for the children while the work was carried out.

But the price tag has raised eyebrows among parents and locals.

But a spokesman for Cumbria county council said: “Cumbria County Council is currently undertaking extensive work at Millom Infants School.

"This will involve the removal of the original ceilings, re-roofing the school and re-wiring.

“This is taking place over several months and careful arrangements have been put in place to ensure that the school can keep operating and most importantly that pupils are absolutely safe.

“To achieve this, two full-sized classrooms have been installed and a temporary roof has been built over the main building.”

“This work represents a significant investment in education in Millom representing 10 per cent of Cumbria County Council’s total investment in school maintenance in 2018/19.”

Millom town councillor Tony Gilmore said: “I do think it’s good news that the county council have got investment in Millom, and that people shouldn’t be so quick to criticise.”

The figures released by the county council are: £29,000 on preliminaries, £122,000 for temporary classrooms, £183,000 for removing ceilings, £90,000 on re-roofing and updating the gable wall, £171,000 for skips and floor protection, £10,900 on rewiring, and £71,000 on fees etc.