A £1.2million learning centre which opened just four years ago will be knocked down under county council plans for a new Burnley super-school.

The Towneley Park City Learning Centre, which contains a performance centre and state-of-the-art computer facilities for both schoolchildren and the wider community, opened in 2003.

But the learning centre will be bulldozed if plans to place the new Unity College building on the nearby Towneley playing fields go ahead.

After a week-long public inquiry in August, in which Burnley Council and other protesters argued for the new school to be built on the existing site, government inspectors are now deciding which site will be used.

Burnley Council leader Gordon Birtwistle called the scheme a "huge waste" of taxpayers' money, and accused the county council of making bad spending decisions.

But county councillors and managers of the site said a new learning centre would be built if the new site was used, and that everyone would benefit from the £25million new facilities.

Councillor Birtwistle said: "We have always said, as a Burnley council, that it should be on the existing site.

"They could easily incorporate the existing centre in the school without demolishing it.

"It seems very excessive to me as a taxpayer. It's a fantastic facility with cutting-edge technology but now we are going to knock it down.

"When the county council was given £250million under Building Schools for the Future to spend on schools they were like children with new toys at Christmas.

"They just went bananas and I don't think they have given any thought to what's gone on."

Ian Galbraith, chairman of pressure group Towneley for the People, blamed the government for the debacle.

He said: "The centre was built under a different government initiative and it's not the only thing that's going to end up a waste.

"They re-roofed the whole school only a couple of years ago at massive expense, and it seems you always get this kind of thing in the public sector.

"The government changes its mind or comes up with a new pot of money and there's no long-term strategic planning. In the end, we all pay more."

But Lancashire County Council's cabinet member for education Alan Whittaker said the cash would not have been wasted, with thousands having already used the facilities and much of the equipment planned to be moved to the new building.

He said: "The situation is not that simple. It is a lot of money, but there's an awful lot more money being spent on the new school, and the playing fields are absolutely the best site for it.

"The city learning centre represents maybe 10 per cent of the facilities, and we have to concentrate on this opportunity and not allow it to be delayed any longer.

"Everything that has been developed over the years at Towneley will be transferred to the new Unity building."

Paul Matty, manager of the learning centre, added: "It will be an improvement to the facilities we have now - the new one will be excellent and we are really looking forward to it."

The City Learning Centre was built under a scheme giving extra cash to schools in deprived areas, before the Building Schools for the Future money became available.