Embarrassed Council chiefs today admitted blundering by painting warning zig-zag lines outside a former school building that has not seen pupils for more than ten years.

And the head teacher of the Baildon school - which moved to a new location - said the error was compounded because there are no warning lines outside its current site.

The new 'School - Keep Clear' markings appeared along a 40-yard stretch of Hall Cliffe, outside the former Baildon C of E school, which is now home to St John's Church Hall, after the road was re-surfaced.

But the building has not been used by pupils since the school's infants moved out a decade ago to join older pupils at its former Jenny Lane site.

The blunder has sparked amusement in the village but has also been branded a "waste of money'' by residents who want the obsolete markings removed and replaced by double yellow lines.

Kath Smith, deputy head at Baildon C of E Primary School, which moved to the former Ladderbanks Middle School site on Coverdale Way in September, said: "Every time they resurface that road they re-paint those lines even though it's not been a school for ten years.

"People just can't understand why the Council doesn't seem to be able to get its head round the fact that it's not a school any more.''

Ken Skirrow, treasurer of the St John's Church Appeal fund, said: "It's quite amusing really and doesn't matter that much.

"But it is a bit daft and obviously shows that one Council department doesn't know what the other is doing.''

Councillor Grahame Thornton (Lib Dem, Baildon), pictured, said: "I believe it is possible to burn these markings off the road but it seems to me they might as well just leave them.

"Hopefully they'll put people off parking because that road is too narrow and dangerous to have parking out there.'

But George Hartley, 85, who lives opposite the church hall in Perseverance Street, said: "I think it's absolutely ridiculous and a complete waste of money."

Alan Rogers, the Council's senior engineer for highway maintenance, said: "We would like to apologise for this and can assure people that the restriction will not be enforced."