CHILDREN at the newly-formed Princes Risborough Primary School will have to stay on a split site for a further year because the county council cannot afford the costs of new buildings.

The school was formed in January by merging Icknield Junior School and Berryfield Infants giving them one head teacher and a single set of governors. Pupils, however, have remained split between the two sites which are half-a-mile apart.

Buckinghamshire County Council planned to move the children to the new primary school with a new classroom block, library and associated facilities, on the site of the old Icknield School, in Wellington Avenue, in September, 2002.

However, the council then it said the change would not happen until January, 2003 and now it has revealed it will be another year until things are ready.

Building work should have started in the coming financial year using cash brought in from the sale of the Berryfield site, Berryfield Road but projected costs of the work of about £1.5 million are outrunning the land's value of £800,000

The county council has now put the work off until 2003/4 and only the first phase, a special needs unit, has been built.

Headteacher Sally Whitlow said lots more money was needed if the school had to be run on a split site for longer than expected. Pupils would need more resources because things had been planned for one school.

She added that some children who should have moved from Berryfield to the Icknield in September had to stay put.

Cllr Marion Clayton, the county council's cabinet member for schools, said she fully appreciated that the delays would cause difficulties for the school.

She added: "We will talk to the school to see what help we can offer."