The chairman of a school's governing body has been sacked after an investigation into the building of two new rooms education leaders say they knew nothing about.

Brighton and Hove City Council has removed Reg Hook from his position at Dorothy Stringer High School, Loder Road, Brighton.

It said it could no longer have confidence in Mr Hook following building works carried out without discussion with the council and a failure to properly explain how they had been paid for out of the school's budget.

The authority also said the school had failed to pass health and safety documents to Jarvis, the company which maintains Dorothy Stringer school through a private finance initiative (PFI), which means its contract could now be in breach.

After serving as a governor for more than 25 years, Mr Hook was sacked by post three weeks ago.

Mr Hook denied the allegations. He said: "They are absolutely wrong, on every count."

The council gave the school funds and grants totalling £185,000 during the last academic year to help relieve a budget deficit of more than £300,000.

This money was specifically to enable Dorothy Stringer to balance its books by 2006, as all schools are required to do by the Government.

But when a building programme went ahead at the school over the summer, the council became concerned about how funds were being used and sent its auditors to investigate.

Elizabeth Whylie, assistant director of Children, Families and Schools at the council, said: "We were very concerned.

"We have monthly expenditure meetings with the school where we discuss how the budget will be spent and these building works were never discussed.

"We were asking how this had been paid for and we asked them to please supply us with the necessary documentation.

"We felt we had the right to insist upon it, given the amount of money we had given the school.

"Then there was the other element that any self-funded building work has to be approved by Jarvis and documentation given to them as well."

Mrs Whylie said the council could be liable to pay thousands in compensation if Jarvis proves the school was in breach of its contract.

Mrs Whylie said: "The point is we were not given the information we needed."

During the investigation, the school told the council the work had been paid for using money from special grants Dorothy Stringer receives for being a specialist sports school.

It said the terms of the grants included an obligation to carry out renovations.

Following an emergency meeting with the remaining governors last Tuesday, Mrs Whylie said she was encouraged by assurances given to her by the governors.

But the council had to be certain about what had gone on and she was attending a detailed financial meeting with the school's bursar and financial governors yesterday to try to resolve outstanding issues.

She said: "I want to make sure everyone involved agrees on all the facts."

Mrs Whylie said the council would consider an application for Mr Hook to be reinstated if certain questions were satisfactorily resolved.

She said: "We want to talk to Reg Hook about whether he fully understood what we were saying to him about the financial and documentation requirements.

"We are keen that a long-serving governor should not end his career under a cloud.

"But I am not prepared to say he will be reinstated."

Colleagues of Mr Hook were today standing by him. One said: "Reg is definitely one of the good guys."

Staff at Dorothy Stringer were unavailable for comment.