Government officers are this week in urgent talks with Council chiefs over a multi-million pound shortfall in funding for the massive schools shake-up.

Schools Minister Estelle Morris has sent her officers to City Hall for top level meetings on what to do about the estimated £47 million extra the Council says it needs.

The authority has already received £124 million from the Government for the plan to switch to two-tier schooling.

But Council officers did not consider the needs of individual schools when they made their original blanket estimate.

Now the Schools Minister says she wants full information on the funding gap before deciding whether to meet it.

Today, Council chief executive Ian Stewart said: "At this stage there is no change to the programme and nothing has been put on hold. We are going back to them with proposals but it is too early to comment on them. They were very helpful and we are hopeful of the outcome. We expect it to take a few weeks."

But leader of the Council's Tory group Councillor Margaret Eaton said putting the programme on hold for a year may be the only practical and sensible way forward, although it would be an "incredible admission of defeat" by the Labour group.

She said: "The Council must act now to make clear its plans for the schools' re-organisation.

"Teachers and parents are totally in the dark and hundreds of staff are facing an uncertain future.

"Delaying the process may be the only way out of the current mess, even if it means creating new problems."

There were also calls for a firm timetable from teachers' unions which feared children would face lengthy periods in temporary classrooms because of the latest problems.

The move from three to two tier education is expected to take place in September, with youngsters who would have gone into middle schools moving straight to secondary schools. There will be ten new primary and six new secondary schools - some from existing schools.

Three new secondary schools, Immanuel Community College, at Thackley; Parkside at Cullingworth, and ClockHouse, Manningham will be built.

Large numbers of schools have submitted planning applications to the Council for extensions to accommodate extra children.

Ian Murch, secretary of Bradford National Union of Teachers, said: "There is a need for full funding and without it there is a very real concern that the work may not be completed."

Ian Davey, secretary of the Bradford branch of the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers, said: "I believe there will be a lot more disruption through these funding problems and our main worry is about the 250 teachers we believe will be displaced.

"There have already been many problems and I believe the authority should have taken more time over this."

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