An irate councillor has declared himself "ashamed" to be part of Bradford Council after the proposed closure of seven primary schools stumbled into further confusion.

Councillor Grahame Thornton (Lib Dem, Baildon) said he couldn't believe the current situation - made worse when parents at one of the threatened schools, Hoyle Court at Baildon, were told a meeting to discuss its future had been 'postponed'.

The announcement followed an 'on-off' saga over the official consultation process on the planned closures, with the Council's assistant chief executive, Mark Carriline, stating it had been halted, only for his boss, Council chief executive Ian Stewart, and Council leader, Margaret Eaton, to over-rule him and pledge it was definitely on.

The seven schools threatened with the axe or merger because of surplus places in the system are: Woodlands CofE at Oakenshaw; Hoyle Court; Ley Top at Allerton; Thorpe School at Idle; Parkland at Thorpe Edge; and Westwood Park and Cooper Lane in Bradford.

Coun Thornton said he was shocked by the postponement of the special neighbourhood forum on the proposed closure of Hoyle Court School which was to be held next Wednesday at Baildon Methodist Church.

He said: "I do not know what rush of blood to the head made the assistant chief executive do this.

"It is an absolute shambles and I am ashamed to be a member of the Council that does things in the most stupid fashion.

"The people of Hoyle Court are trying to run a campaign. It is disgusting."

But today, Councillor David Ward, portfolio holder for education, told the T&A that the meeting had to be rearranged due to logistics, having been "un-booked" earlier this week.

"The consultation was postponed, to use the word from the Council's own press release, but now it is back on. We are committed to talking to schools every single day about it.

"There is difficulty about re-arranging the Hoyle Court meeting at such short notice because we could not stick to the original timetable. We hope to hold the meeting as soon as possible."

And Phil Green, Bradford Council's Director of Education, said: "The consultation process is continuing and we will be re-arranging this meeting as soon as possible.