CONEY Green and Radcliffe High will be sold for £4 million-plus to raise money to build the town's new high school.

Councillors have agreed to dispose of the two sites and earmark all the proceeds for the proposed Radcliffe Riverside High School.

The 900-pupil school, to be built on the former East Lancs Paper Mill site, will cost £15 million. The council has been awarded £5 million from the Government towards it, with a further £2 million to come.

The remainder, however, has to come locally. A report presented to councillors says that the value of the Coney Green and Radcliffe High sites had previously been estimated at £4 million, but officers now say they expect to raise more than that.

The current rule is that if a school wants to sell off land, it is allowed to keep 60 per cent of the proceeds for itself, and put 40 per cent into the council's pot. This helps provide money for building works at all schools, including those who do not have spare assets to sell. In this case, the rule has been waived because constructing the new school is dependant on using all the cash from the sale of the other two.

The move was agreed by councillors on the ruling executive.