A BURNLEY headteacher has described as "misguided and ill-informed" opposition to plans to demolish the borough's schools to make way for five new state-of-the-art buildings.

Speaking at Ivy Bank Business and Enterprise College's awards evening last night, Stephen Ball urged the community to get behind the proposals, which would completely transform secondary education in Burnley and Pendle.

He said suggestions that the money that Lancashire County Council is currently bidding for could be spent on improving facilities for the elderly or on other worthy causes was was wrong.

Mr Ball said: "National government has allocated £2.2billion to improve school buildings in this country and I believe firmly that Burnley cannot sit on the sidelines while the government allocates money to other towns and cities.

"Our children deserve the best that can be afforded and at the moment this town is beset with difficulties that can be overcome only through a bold and dramatic programme of change."

The headteacher said the current school buildings were inadequate, the annual admissions rounds caused misery for families who could not find a place in schools in the west of the town, and that the current distribution of school students did little to promote racial understanding and tolerance within the town.

He urged people to get involved in the debate about how the reorganisation and rebuild should work rather than try to stop it.

However, Mr Ball added a note of caution to Lancashire County Council about securing the future for all the teachers facing uncertainty over their jobs as a result of the possible reorganisation.

He said: "For all the talk of space age buildings, new admission plans, social cohesion and inter-school collaboration the Local Education Authority needs to remember one fundamental truth -- schools are all about their people and we need to make sure that these remarkable people, who do so much for our children, are kept in the town.

"They are the foundation for the success of Burnley's secondary education system and I urge the authority to act quickly to produce an effective strategy to ensure that they are retained."

The special guest at the event, held at Burnley Mechanics Theatre, was the Rev David Newman, part-time chaplain at Burnley General Hospital, who is a governor for Ivy Bank.