THE future of Radcliffe Riverside High School has been thrown into turmoil after a row erupted between the landowner and Bury Council.
Delays in starting the work have forced the opening date to be pushed back by eight months to September, 2009.
And fears have been raised that parts of the current school buildings may have to be closed because they are deteriorating so much.
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The council has been in discussions with P&F Properties, owners of the former East Lancashire Paper Mill site, for many months.
But both sides are now accusing each other of missing deadlines and causing the legal process to drag on.
P&F Properties claim that they have contacted the council several times to arrange meetings, without success.
Speaking on their behalf, Rob Hill, of Green Issues Communications, said: "The heads of terms have been agreed with Bury Council, despite the council making several changes at the last minute. As is standard with such agreements, we are looking to finalise the legal matters. This requires further minor discussions between Bury Council and our client's solicitors. Several invitations to arrange a meeting have been sent to the council. Unfortunately they have not been able to confirm a date."
But this has been denied by a council spokesman, who blamed P&F Properties for delaying the process. He said that a draft legal agreement was sent to the firm's solicitors in September, but was "radically altered" when it was eventually returned on January 11.
The spokesman said: "Deadlines have been ignored, works not undertaken, the legals remain at an impasse, and meetings declined. The council is exasperated at being unable to complete this agreement, and takes no responsibility for the delay. If P&F Properties are serious, then they need to make progress by attending a meeting with the chief executive."
Despite the delays in building the new school, both parties insist that they are committed to ensuring that the project goes ahead.
Mr Hill said: "Our client would like to reassure the local community that it is committed 100 per cent to seeing a new school with state-of-the-art facilities being opened as soon as possible.
"From day one of the planning process we have engaged with key stakeholders and councillors in the local area. Our aim has always been to provide a high-quality education facility for the local community, and this remains our primary objective."
The council's spokesman said: "The council has used every endeavour to complete the transfer of land to enable the school to be built."
Plans for a new school building in Radcliffe were first mooted around five years ago and led to the merger of Radcliffe High School and Coney Green College of Technology in 2004.
The school currently operates across both sites, but the buildings are deteriorating because a decision was made not to spend money repairing them when they were due to be closed. It is thought that parts of the school may have to close because of rain getting inside.
And despite a cross-party motion promising that the school would be opened by January next year, the date has now been pushed back until September, 2009.
The series of delays has led two Radcliffe West councillors to call for the council and P&F Properties to come to an agreement.
Councillor Wayne Campbell, leader of the Labour party, said: "I am not interested in what is happening or where blame lies, I just want the school to be built. Anybody who walks around the site can see that nothing is going on.
"People deserve to know when their school will be built. This just isn't good enough."
Councillor Tony Cummings, chairman of Radcliffe Local Area Partnership, said: "The council is blaming the landowner and the landowner is blaming the council. They need to get together and knock it on the head. I hope that they urgently get together and sort it out.
"Because of the way that things are going on, people in Radcliffe have lost faith in the school and don't believe that it will ever be built. If it doesn't happen in the next year, the intake will be even lower and it will be more difficult to justify having a school. It's blighting the whole school."
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