A massive shake-up of the district's special schools has been set back because of a delay in Government funding of £35 million.

School chiefs said they were bitterly disappointed that the scheme to create six new special schools had been set back a year.

For the past six months, Bradford Council had been unclear about whether its bid for £35 million of Government cash had been successful.

And the Government has now confirmed that a decision will not be taken until later this year.

The revamp will mean the closure of ten existing schools, including Braithwaite and Branshaw in Keighley, and their replacement with six new special schools -- three primary and three secondary.

It was hoped that the special schools would be ready in 2006, but because of the delays on the funding announcement, notices to close the existing special schools cannot be issued.

Councillor David Ward, Bradford Council's executive member for education, said: "We are bitterly disappointed that this project is now having to be put back.

"We have been working closely with the Government on this scheme but we cannot move things forward until we get the funding announcement from them.

"We had expected to have this information by now, but we have been told an announcement won't be made until the summer."

The council has already allocated funding for the primary school part of the plan but is delaying the whole scheme until funding is secured for the secondary schools as well, which it is still confident it will receive.

Mark Pattison, Education Bradford's managing director, said: "We are disappointed at this delay as this has an impact on some of the most vulnerable young people in the district.

"We will be working with the council to ensure that the effect of the delay on the future of special schools is minimised."

In Keighley it is proposed that a special primary school be built on the site of Guard House school and the secondary school at Greenhead.