The government has confirmed the £80m first phase of the private finance initiative proposals for the borough to go ahead with the Building Schools for the Future programme.

The huge Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF) would see the closure of Lowton, Golborne and Hesketh Fletcher high schools and Gilded Hollins primary in Leigh.

A new super school, including primary facilities and a state-of-the-art children’s centre, would be built on the site of Lowton Civic Hall.

Further phases would see two new high schools being built to serve the Ashton and Standish/Shevington areas. It would also mean the existing Hesketh Fletcher and Pembec sites become 14-19 vocational centres.

Council leader Lord Smith has welcomed the £80m cash. He said: “This announcement means our dream to provide our children with the first rate education they deserve will now become reality.”

But Wigan Unison branch secretary Bob Adams said BSF would give millions of pounds of public money to the private sector to knock down community schools the public owns.

Wigan will then have to rent back the schools, meaning every council tax payer will end up having to pay the cost for the next 25 years, he claimed.

Mr Adams said: “Building has already started on the new Abraham Guest building in Lamberhead and it is estimated the cost of renting it back again will be £6m. This is not investing in public services, it is greasing the palms of the private sector and the banks. “It is time to end this nonsense.”

Save Our Schools, the parents’ pressure group fighting to have existing schools modernised rather than relocated and amalgamated, says it will reduce choice and threaten the green belt. They held a protest against the closure of Gilded Hollins Primary School at the Robin Hood pub at the weekend.

Stephen Hall of Save Our Schools is now urging all parents and opponents to join a mass lobby planned for Wigan Town Hall on Thursday, July 30, when the Cabinet is expected to confirm the proposals following consultation with local people.

He claimed that BSF “does nothing other than waste hundreds of millions of our money on unnecessary new buildings”.