RESIDENTS of a town are being urged to deliver their verdict on multi-million pound school improvements.

Middlesbrough Council has secured £91m from the Government's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, which will see all the town's community secondary schools rebuilt or refurbished by 2011.

The first phase of the programme will be the amalgamation of two adjoining comprehensives in a new school at Acklam, Middlesbrough.

The borough council is putting the finishing touches to an outline planning application for the amalgamated King's Manor and Hall Garth Schools, which will be known as Acklam Base.

The plans will be on display at an exhibition to give people information and the chance to comment on the building plans.

Councillor Brenda Thompson, a member of the council's executive, yesterday urged local people to visit the exhibition.

The executive member for children, families and learning said: "Middlesbrough's BSF plans represent the biggest-ever investment in secondary schools in the town. They will mean first-class facilities for all students and staff in secondary schools.

"The proposals are also important to residents who live near these schools and we want to share our plans with them and find out their views."

The plans for the Acklam Base School call for a single school to be built in the school grounds.

The existing buildings are to be bulldozed and the site used for car parking and playing fields when the project is completed.

The plans will be on show at a public exhibition in the reception area of Acklam Sports Centre on Monday, June 25, from 2pm to 7pm. People visiting the exhibition will be able to talk to council officers, a transport and traffic consultant and a represent- ative from the council's agent, Signet Planning.

The mayor will chair a public meeting on the amalgamation at Hall Garth School, tonight, starting at 6pm.

The council believes the plans will give young people the best possible chance of doing well, and achieving skills and qualifications they need to succeed.

The meeting will give the public a chance to find out more about the proposals, make comments and hear other views.

More than 70 per cent of people who responded to a consultation were in favour of the proposals for a new school to cater for about 1,400 students.