The council has been given the green light to press ahead with its £300m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

The go ahead came with official confirmation of Government funding approval.

The council is proposing an initial 10-year commercial partnership to rebuild and update the borough's 16 secondary schools.

A notice inviting submissions has been placed in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

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Bidders now have until September 3 to return a pre-qualifying questionnaire. A shortlist of three will be confirmed at the beginning of October.

Final bids will be due in by July 2010. The investment will run in phases from 2011 to 2016.

The programme includes a £22m investment in ICT for which the council plans a seven-year tie-up with a flexible and innovative partner.

Council Leader Edward Lister said: "This decision means we're now and up running with this hugely ambitious project.

"We want to move quickly now so that by the end of the summer we have whittled down the prospective partners to a short list of three.

"We've been delighted with the interest shown already by the market. There's a real sense that Wandsworth is going to be an exciting place to work."

(CD/KMcA)