EDUCATION chiefs have accused the Government of forcing academy schools on them against their wishes, a union leader said last night.

Jerry Bartlett, from the National Association of Schoolteachers Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), said Durham County Council officials made the claim during talks with him yesterday.

Mr Bartlett said: “This was the first time senior officials at the authority have indicated that they did not want Belmont School to be converted into an academy.

“They were very frank and open in indicating that they were being forced by the Government to adopt an academy strategy in order to access Government funding for new school buildings and to finance reorganisation.

“We were very taken aback by their disarming honesty.”

David Williams, the council’s director for children’s services, denied officials said they did not want Belmont School, in Durham, converted into an academy, saying the claim was “quite simply incorrect”.

He said that by planning for academies, the council could secure substantial additional Government funds to build schools.

Durham County Council is planning to build three academies – one each in Durham, Consett and Stanley. Sites have yet to be chosen, but the schools could open in 2012.

The scheme would result in six secondary schools being closed – Belmont and Durham Gilesgate Sports College and Sixth Form Centre, in Durham City; Moorside Community Technology College and Consett Community Sports College, in Consett; and Greencroft School and Stanley School of Technology.

Each academy would be sponsored by the council and an outside group.

A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokesman said councils did not have to have academies to secure funding to improve schools.

Earlier this month, the NASUWT held a one-day protest strike at Belmont School.

A one-day walkout planned for June 2 has been cancelled, but there could be further action later in the month.

Mr Bartlett also said teachers in the four schools involved outside Durham had asked to meet union officials to discuss the possibility of joining the action.

In 2006, Keith Mitchell, a former council education chief, said the Government told the authority its application for extra funds to improve school buildings would not be approved unless it drew up academy plans.