DETAILS of a radical plan to knock down Culcheth High School and build an £18 million replacement have been revealed exclusively to the Warrington Guardian.

Borough councillors are to be asked to vote on the proposal next month.

The announcement that Culcheth High School is now at the forefront of a shake-up of secondary school provision in the town will come as a surprise to many, as it had been mooted that Padgate and Woolston high schools were the most at risk.

Meanwhile, education bosses have shelved controversial plans to shut either of those schools by 2009. They will now spend the next year consulting those communities before outlining new options for the future of the schools.

Norma Cadwallader, the borough council's strategic director of children's services, said: "No one option as it currently stands provides a good enough solution to all the issues raised for central and eastern Warrington.

"We have therefore recommended that wider, in-depth consultation is needed to address all of these concerns and to ensure that all options are fully considered.

"It is recommended that the Culcheth development takes place first as there are no major obstacles to completing that building in time for opening in September 2009."

The shift of attention to Culcheth High School is as a result of the council's need to spend millions of pounds of Government cash before 2009.

When councillors sitting on the executive board meet on September 11 they will also be asked to pass works to improve a number of high schools across the borough.

One of those proposals will see William Beamont High School rebuilt between 2010 and 2016.

Other recommendations are to amalgamate the split site Bridgewater High School at the current upper school site, and to increase the capacity of the sixth form at Lymm High School by 50 places. It is also proposed to boost Great Sankey High School sixth form by 75 as well as increasing the capacity of St Gregory's Catholic High School.

The council says it wants to consider further options for Padgate and Woolston after the consultation with parents and residents but says the possible closure of both schools and the opening of a new one at Hillock Lane has not been ruled out.

Education bosses are expected to keep sixth form provision within the Padgate and Woolston areas.