A SCHOOL for deaf children in Bristol is "being set up to fail" over its plans move to an alternative site, according to a Bristol city councillor.
The city council has been accused of not trying hard enough to find an alternative site for Elmfield School for Deaf Children's primary and early years campus in Greystoke Avenue, Westbury-on-Trym.
The school wants to co-locate with another primary school in the city in order to save money.
Early discussions have taken place about co-locating the deaf school with a new primary school on the site of the former Fairfield Grammar School in Montpelier.
But a meeting of the city council's children's services scrutiny commission at the Council House heard that the school might not be able to move there until the 2015/6 academic year.
The commission's chairman, councillor Alastair Watson, said other options should be explored with more rigour.
The meeting was told that co-location with St Ursula's E-ACT Academy in Westbury-on-Trym was being considered but progress had been held up because a lease on the school's land states any development can not take place without Government permission.
Mr Watson told the meeting that officers should explore the possibility of a co-location with St Ursula's or other schools more determination because the Fairfield move was far from guaranteed.
He said: "I worry that it leaves Elmfield in limbo again – we keep putting off decisions off.
"It seems like they are being set up to fail. They need co-location and need it as soon as possible and need the best suitable site."
Other councillors said the council should lean harder on other primary schools to try to find a solution while it was also suggested that the delay in finding an alternative site was causing uncertainty and a drop in pupil numbers at the school.
The council heard the St Ursula's site was too large for a single primary school and it needed to get "better value" from its land.
In March, campaigners succeeded in their battle to save Elmfield School for Deaf Children's campus in Westbury. The school had been under threat for more than a year because of the high cost of each pupil place.
But parents, staff, governors and supporters strongly opposed the city council's move to shut it and replace it with specialist resource bases attached to mainstream schools.
The council announced the school would stay open, although its maximum number of places would be cut from 36 to 30.
Elmfield also has a secondary school, which is within Fairfield High School in Horfiel
