The Government today denied Conservative claims was deliberately holding up proposals to build six new special schools in Bradford because it want to find pupils places in mainstream education.

Bradford Council has planned a massive education shake-up for pupils with learning difficulties - replacing ten old schools with state-of-the-art establishments.

But this week the Department for Education revealed it was delaying the announcement on how much funding it would give the city.

School chiefs said they were bitterly disappointed by the "setback".

But MP Mark Hoban, a Tory education spokesman, said he suspected the move was part of a Government campaign to scrap special schools.

He said: "Ministers favour teaching special needs children in mainstream schools. They believe that these children would benefit from being in mainstream education.

"This would lead to the closure of many more special schools - and large savings. I suspect the Education Department will keep the issue of Bradford's special schools on the backburner for as long as possible."

This was denied by the Education Department.

In 1983, there were 1,562 special schools in England. In 2003, there were 1,160.

But the number of children with the most severe needs who are in mainstream schools has gone up 49 per cent in the past decade.

Teachers claim traditional special schools allowed those who needed it to access an appropriate education delivered by well-trained experts.

The Bradford revamp will mean the closure of ten existing schools - Bolling, Braithwaite, Branshaw, Chapel Grange, Greenfield, Haycliffe, Heaton Royds, Lister Lane, Netherlands Avenue and Wedgwood and their replacement with six new special schools - three primary and three secondary.

Councillors hoped the special schools would be ready in 2006.

An Education Department spokeswoman said Bradford's special schools shake-up was tied in with the city's multi-million Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, which is replacing crumbling classrooms with 21st Century schools.

She said: "The authority's innovative plans for the reorganisation of their special schools are linked to their subsequent BSF proposals for inclusion in future waves of funding."

She said ministers were waiting the outcome of Chancellor Gordon Brown's Spending Review in the summer before announcing funding.

Coun David Ward, Bradford Council's executive member for education, said the Government was committed to funding the programme.

He said: "There is a commitment that we are one of the areas which will be supported. It is now just working out the nitty-gritty of the costing."

The hold-up was being caused because Bradford was one of four 'Pathfinder' education authorities piloting the BSF project.