Bradford taxpayers could be left picking up a £1 million debt when a struggling school closes to become a new city academy.

Bradford Cathedral Community College in East Bowling is set to close in September 2007 to be replaced by the independently run Bradford Academy.

The academy will be taken out of Bradford Council control and receive £20 million from the Government to pay for a new building. It will also receive £1 million from its sponsor, social action charity TocH.

However new figures announced yesterday reveal that Bradford Cathedral Community College is expecting to be more than £1 million in debt at the end of this financial year. And if this debt remains until the school closes in August 2007 it will have to be paid for by Bradford Council.

The report also revealed that surpluses in accounts of Bradford schools will hit almost £11 million while other schools are predicting debts totalling £6.4 million.

The report warns that deficits are increasing at an alarming rate and are "out of control" at some schools.

It has been produced for Bradford Council's Young People and Education Improvement Committee which scrutinises education services in the district.

The committee called for regular updates on school budget surpluses and deficits after it was revealed last year that £17.8 million was sitting unspent in school accounts while others had debts of £6.9 million. The number of schools in surplus is expected to increase from 166 at the end of the last financial year to 180 by March.

However the level of surplus is predicted to fall from £17,803762 to £10,997,217.

The new figures are based on schools' budget forecasts which were given in September. But the report warns that schools are collectively poor at predicting their forecasts. The report says Bradford Cathedral Community College now has the largest deficit in the district, predicted at £1,001,489.

Councillor Phil Thornton, chairman of the Young People and Education Improvement Committee, said he was disappointed Bradford Council could be left to pick up the cost of the school's debt and was concerned the creation of the academy would be at the expense of other schools.

However Bradford Cathedral Community College's head teacher David Brett said: "I can understand how councillors might see this but you also have to look at the investment of £20 million into a part of inner city Bradford."

Mr Brett said the budget forecast had since been revised and the school now expected to finish the financial year with a deficit of £895,000. The school had been spending within its budgets for the past two years.

A Bradford Council spokesman said: "The academy will not inherit the debt from the school."