Catholic parents have flocked to city hall to voice their protest against plans to close three secondary schools in Bradford.

St Joseph's Catholic College in Manningham, St Bede's Grammar School in Heaton and Yorkshire Martyrs Catholic College in Tong are set to be replaced with one amalgamated school by 2008.

The new co-educational school, which would initially be split across St Bede's and St Joseph's sites, would be the biggest in the district.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds, which runs Catholic secondary schools in the city, wants amalgamation because of falling numbers of Catholic pupils.

But the move has angered parents in the south of the city. A group of around 30 parents and children staged a protest in Centenary Square yesterday.

Maria Philburn, a mum of two and foundation governor at St Columba's Catholic Primary School in Tong Street, said many parents in south Bradford would not be able to send their children to a school in Heaton.

She said: "I have brought my children up as Catholic, they have been baptised and now I feel I have been let down by the diocese because it might not be possible to educate my children at a catholic school."

A protest organiser, Sharon Ratnik, was invited to address a Council committee which scrutinises education last night. Mrs Ratnik, who is a governor at St Columba's, said: "The parents in areas like Birstall, Birkenshaw and Tyersal are in turmoil.

"One of the fathers timed how long it would take to drive from Tyersal to Heaton at 9pm after rush hour and it took 25 minutes. At the start of a school day this would take an hour which would mean an extra two hours added onto the children's day."

Mrs Ratnik told Bradford Council's Young People and Education Improvement Comm-ittee 23 buses were used ferrying children to the three schools and this would increase if all pupils went to one school. Anthony Mugan, the head of Bradford Council's education client team, said the authority was now studying what impact the Catholic diocese's proposal for a new amalgamated school would have on the district.

He said: "Firstly, on the implications for demand for places and the possible cross-border loss of pupils southwards.

"Secondly, what the transport implications would be and the capacity of the system to cope with that and, thirdly, the sustainability of standards for 3,000 pupils on a split-site secondary school."

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds is holding a consultation exercise until September.

Councillor Phil Thornton, the chairman of the Young People and Education Improvement Committee, called for members to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday, September 6, to allow them to have their say before consultation closes.

e-mail: john.roberts@bradford.newsquest.co.uk