HEADTEACHERS and education bosses have spoken of their shock after Burnley and Pendle lost out on £150million to transform schools.

Burnley MP Peter Pike revealed the devastating news a day before the Department of Education and Skills was due to make its official announcement.

Lancashire County Council put a bid in to the Department in October asking for cash to bulldoze secondary schools and replace them with state-of-the-art 'superschools'.

It was hoped the move would end the admissions problems which have plagued secondary schools for years - and help with the problems of white and Asian pupils failing to mix which were identified in the report into the Burnley riots.

Ten other education authorities have been given their share of the £2.2 billion cash pot for rejuvenating their schools, while Burnley and Leicester have been placed on a reserve list.

This means Burnley's bid could eventually be accepted if one of the successful authorities fails to implement its plans in the next three months - and there is the chance of money be given to the area from future waves of cash.

The revolution in local education - earmarked to start next year - would have seen all of Burnley's secondary schools demolished and replaced with new ones on the sites of Barden, St Theodore's, Gawthorpe, Habergham/Ivy Bank and Towneley High Schools.

They also included proposals to demolish Walton, Mansfield and Edge End secondary schools in Nelson, which also take pupils from Burnley, and replace them with two new schools.

A new sixth form centre was also proposed, as well as a school for children with learning difficulties and a centre for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Each of the seven new schools would have a new name, and would have the capacity to accommodate 1,050 pupils, aged 11 to 16, apart from a new Roman Catholic school, on the site of St Theodore's, which would have room for 1,250 pupils.

Mr Pike said: "Being a reserve is not good enough. We need the money and we need it now.

"It's like being a footballer who is always on the subs bench and never getting on the pitch."

Dr Adrian Lythgoe, headteacher at Barden High School, could barely contain his shock when the Lancashire Evening Telegraph broke the news to him today.

He said: "I am extremely disappointed. I just hope Burnley will get the money in the future."

Senior county councillor Tony Martin said: "I am very disappointed to say the least. Ten local authorities out of 50 that applied for money have been chosen and Burnley is one of two on the reserve list.

"We are upset not to be in the first tranche to get money because we thought we had put together a very comprehensive bid and I can't think which other area in the country has the sort of problems which Burnley has.

"We need to go away and look at the paper work and at the successful bids to see if there is any way we can tinker with our proposals.

"We are hoping for some sort of commitment in the future to address the problems that exist in Burnley and although disappointing this is not the end of the line."

Leader of Lancashire County Council, CC Hazel Harding, said: "This was a huge exercise in partnership working between the County

Council, the dioceses and the district councils.

"Everybody was convinced that this was a good bid and the way forward for education in Burnley.

"We will now re-group and look at the matter to see how we can best move forward."

A spokesman for the county council said: "We don't know what is going to happen next because no one expected this bid to fail."

Four local authorities had already been given the go-ahead to rebuild their schools -- Bradford, Bristol, a joint project between Greenwich, Lewisham and Southwark in London, and Sheffield.

Tomorrow another 10 authorities are to get between £100million and £200million to redevelop their schools -- a joint project of Gateshead and South Tyneside; Knowsley on Merseyside; Leeds; Manchester (Phrase One); Newcastle upon Tyne; Newham; Solihull; Stoke-on-Trent; Sunderland; and Waltham Forest.

On average, local schools have about £90 per pupil a year to spend on school buildings.

In 2005/6 if they had been given the Government grant they would have had nearer £680 per pupil.

A spokesman for the DIY school, set up by parents in Burnley last year when their children were not given places at their chosen schools, said: "This is absolutely diabolical. Schools will have to carry on in the same way and the problems will just go on."