THE £90million project to knock down all Bridgwater's secondary schools and replace them with state-of-the-art "schools for the future" moved a big step closer this week.

Somerset County Council has approved the latest stage of an ambitious project which will make Bridgwater a Somerset flagship for state-of-the-art schooling.

The idea is to replace the four secondary schools (Robert Blake, Chilton Trinity, Haygrove and East Bridgwater) and two special schools (Penrose and Elmwood) with giant new campuses housing a total of nearly 4,000 pupils.

This week, the authority voted to submit the official plans to the Government - a move means pupils could move into the new classrooms as early as September 2011.

The project outlines how: * Robert Blake Science College and Elmwood Special School will be rebuilt on Blake's current site, and provide 900 school places.

* East Bridgwater Community School will be rebuilt on its current site for 900 pupils, with further facilities onsite.

* Haygrove School and Penrose Special School is likely to be built on a new greenfield site if the council can successfully purchase a new site. It will be home to 1,050 pupils.

* Chilton Trinity Technology College will be rebuilt on its current site, and house 1,050 students.

Gloria Cawood, the council's portfolio-holder for education, said: "Through this ambitious programme, Somerset County Council aims to transform the educational experience on offer to Somerset's pupils and maximise their opportunities to be successful.

"I am very impressed by the enthusiasm of everyone involved with this. The teachers, governors, parents, pupils, district council and others have really helped to move the project forward and it is great that we are able to move on to the next stage."

Programme director Julia Ridge's report this week admitted there remains "an affordability gap" between available resources and the likely cost, but said further work will take place to close the gap.

And she added: "We are pleased that this exciting project to transform Bridgwater's schools is on course. The next phase will be to develop an outline business case and we will be consulting in October about the options for each site."