Keighley College bosses are looking for a "back-up" site for their new £25 million campus.

They say delays in buying vitally-needed land for the new college in Dalton Lane are jeopardising the viability of the project.

College principal David Gates claimed that further delays would force him to waste taxpayers' money on short term improvements to the existing town centre buildings.

He said work must begin soon on the new site, next to Keighley Railway Station, in order for the college to open as planned in 2007. Mr Gates's design team is now looking at a handful of other potential sites within easy reach of Keighley town centre.

The Government's Learning and Skills Council would provide the bulk of the cost of creating the all-in-one five storey complex at the top of Da-lton Lane.

Construction work has been put on hold due to the reluctance of electrical firm Richard Craven to sell its base in the former Station Hotel, at the top of Dalton Lane.

Bradford Council is negotiating with Richard Craven on the college's behalf and also hopes to buy the next-door former working men's club.

Another stumbling block, as revealed a fortnight ago by the Keighley News, is the difficulty finding £750,000 to up-grade the Dalton Lane/Bradford Road junction.

Mr Gates said a delay on beginning work on the new college campus would not affect whether the Learning and Skills Council provided funding.

He said: "There's no suggestion of us losing the money. The LSC has been very supportive."

The main risk is that staff and students would have to remain in the current buildings later than 2007. The college would then have to spend many thousands of pounds on adaptations to meet the Disability Discrimination Act and other refurbishments.

Mr Gates said: "We don't want to refurbish the existing site. It's not a worthwhile use of taxpayers' money.

"We are looking at two or three other sites. We don't want to go to them. We've invested a lot of money in designing this exciting building"

"Dalton Lane remains our favoured site, but we're in danger of not being able to move forward within the timescale. It's getting close to the time."

Mr Gates admitted that choosing a new site would increase costs, but said the process would not significantly delay the college's projected redevelopment timetable. He refused to reveal where the "two or three" possible sites were, but said they were all within easy reach of the town centre.

Dalton Lane is seen as the most suitable site due to its transport links --- including a new bus terminus -- and its proximity to other projects, such as the new Keighley Bus Museum.

Bradford Council's regeneration development manager, Simon Wood-hurst, said the council was working with Keighley College, public transport agency Metro and Keighley Bus Museum Trust.

He said: "We have already started demolition work on land and build-ings which we jointly own with the college, and talks with other private land owners have begun. Hopefully, the talks will be successful and we can purchase the remaining land required to move the project forward and meet a deadline of summer 2007."