A DECISION on whether to merge two single-sex secondary schools could be delayed by up to six months.

The delay has come about because the Government has told Kent County Council that it cannot push ahead with a controversial plan to amalgamate Hereson Boys School and Ellington School for Girls until a competition has been held to to see if other organisations, including private companies, are interested in running the new mixed school.

County councillors will be told of the hiccup when they meet to decide if the merger plan should go ahead this Thursday (January 10).

County education chiefs say they are disappointed by the decision and have predicted no-one will come forward with an alternative scheme.

KCC had asked Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), to exempt it from legislation that means any proposal for a new school must now be subject to an open competition.

But in a letter to the authority, the DCSF says the Secretary of State has "not been convinced there is a compelling argument for this school to be established as a community [KCC-run] school. A competition would provide an opportunity for a range of other potential proposers to bring forward proposals which could be considered together with the authority’s proposals."

Mr Balls has also questioned whether the merger, which has sparked widespread opposition, would raise classroom standards, saying KCC has failed to provide enough evidence to back up its case.

He has also rejected KCC's view that because the new school will be built under the Private Finance Initiative, there would be little interest from other organisations.

Cllr Mark Dance (Con), KCC's cabinet member for schools operations, said: "We cannot see the sense of the Secretary of State's decision. I cannot see anyone else being interested in running this new school but we just have to get on with it."

The merger plan, which has drawn widespread opposition, has come about because of falling pupil numbers at both schools.

Under KCC's scheme, a new mixed school for 11-to-16-year-olds would open on the Ellington site at Pysons Road in September 2009 and provide places for nearly 700 pupils.

KCC has come under pressure over its plans because it has announced separately it intends to retain the area's two single-sex grammar schools even though rolls are falling across the Thanet district.