The long-awaited £25million scheme to replace Keighley College is facing the axe, according to MP Ann Cryer.

She claims delays in talks and a party political row are threatening delivery of the project, which is central to the Airedale Masterplan's redevelopment of Keighley.

In a letter to Bradford Council leader Councillor Margaret Eaton, which she has passed on to the Keighley News, Mrs Cryer has urged action to make sure the Dalton Lane project goes ahead.

Her letter follows a series of meetings of major stakeholders in the project to iron out its problems.

In the letter she says: "The meetings were helpful in many ways but I am concerned that this project is still not receiving the high level attention and commitment it deserves.

"Given the complexity of the project -- and the demands on time -- there is a very real threat that the whole thing will simply not go ahead as a result of a lack of appropriate organisation, drive or attention."

She believes differences of opinion between herself as the Labour MP and the Conservative executive committee of Bradford Council could delay the project.

Mrs Cryer adds: "The last thing I want is for this matter to descend into a party political argument, but the fact is that you are in control of Bradford Council.

"I cannot passively accept the potential loss of the largest regeneration and investment programme in Keighley for years because you and your colleagues do not seem to believe that this is sufficiently important an issue to warrant your time and input.

"This is a deliverable project -- at the heart of the Airedale Masterplan -- that is nothing less than Keighley deserves.

"Unless we get over what appears to be a rather pedestrian approach to the development of Keighley then it will not happen," she says.

In her written reply to Mrs Cryer, Cllr Eaton says: "The council through its officers and elected members have worked very hard on the Dalton Lane project and continue to do so.

"Our commitment to this project has been evident from day one.

"The council has considerable experience in the field of large and complex projects. They always provide challenges frequently not of the council's making."

In August Mrs Cryer stepped in to help strike a deal for Bradford Council to buy the Richard Craven electrical store and the former social club -- both on the site of the proposed college.

Delays in the deal have put back the expected opening of the new campus from September 2007 to Easter 2008.

But funding from the Learning and Skills Council has still not been put in place, jeopardising the whole project.

An update on the college's progress was due to be given to Keighley Town Council last night by college principal David Gates.

Problems are also thought to exist in the traffic situation around the site.