RADCLIFFE'S two high schools will become one by September next year, while council leaders try again to find £15 million for a new building to house them.

Plans to amalgamate Coney Green and Radcliffe High schools have been approved, after no parents lodged a formal objection.

From September 1, 2004, the new school will operate at both existing sites, but with future year 7 classes being taught on the Coney Green campus.

A temporary board of governors will be set up in the coming weeks to start thrashing out the details: for one thing, the school will need a name.

Councillors still want to build a new school in Radcliffe, even though their original £37.5 million plan through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) was turned down.

But they now think they can raise the £15 million necessary for a new local school through non-PFI means, and are having talks with the Government about it. If successful, a new school could open by autumn 2006.