An £80m bid to transform four Oxfordshire schools could mark the start of the largest school renovation programme in the county’s history.

The way has been cleared for the county to bid for £400m in total to transform secondary schools under the Government’s Building Schools for the Future fund.

It had initially looked like Oxfordshire would be one of the last counties in the country to benefit because it was judged to be an affluent region.

But new Government guidelines mean that Oxfordshire schools stand a real chance of benefiting from the fund to revamp schools years earlier than expected, in what would be the costliest programme of school building in the history. of the county.

Oxfordshire County Council yesterday confirmed it is submitting a formal bid of £80m to make wide-ranging improvements to Cheney School, Oxford School and Iffley Mead Special School, all in Oxford, along with Banbury School.

County Hall hopes it will be given the green light early next year, with building work starting within 18 months.

But it has already made clear that further bids totalling hundreds of millions of pounds to improve other secondary school buildings across the county will follow.

A county council spokesman said: “It had initially been communicated that Oxfordshire would be one of the last councils in the country to benefit from this fund because of its relative affluence compared to other regions.

“It was thought that the county would not benefit until the middle of the next decade.

“However, the Government has indicated that areas previously told that they would not benefit until much later, would get a chance to bid for an initial project up to £80m to bring about improvements much sooner, with the prospect of further funding to come.”

The council said the four schools in the first bid had been selected to meet strict criteria set out in Government guidelines.

Factors to be taken into account are the condition of buildings, GCSE performance and the “relative deprivation levels” of the areas that schools serve. The suitability of buildings to meet a school’s needs is the other main consideration in the selection process.

Jolie Kirby, head of Cheney School, said: “We are delighted. We have worked hard to raise achievement and the new build would support this.”

Councillor Michael Waine, pictured, the county council cabinet member for schools improvement, said: "We believe that this will make a big difference to a large number of schools. Building work cannot change everything but it will greatly raise aspirations.

"It was very unfortunate that we had originally been at the bottom of the list of areas to benefit from this money. It comes as a relief to be given the chance to bid earlier for at least some improvements.

“The figure we have in mind for the next five to seven years is £400m. I hope that we are successful. But we will have to see what will be the impact of the present financial position.”

One controversial element of the scheme is that local authorities who submit successful bids are expected to work with a private company in a local education partnership.