CRUMBLING school buildings at one of the region's most successful comprehensives will not be replaced for ten years because it is being penalised for being too successful, it was claimed yesterday.

Education officials are calling for an urgent meeting with newly-appointed Government Schools Minister Stephen Twigg after it emerged that the dilapidated buildings of Durham Johnston School will not be replaced for more than a decade.

The Government's "Building Schools For The Future" initiative aims to replace or upgrade every secondary school in the country over the next 15 years through the Private Finance Initiative.

But priority is being given to schools serving disadvantaged areas or with poor academic records.

The decision means that many of the county's schools - including those in Easington and Sedgefield - will be replaced in the third phase of the building programme, which is likely to take place in about 2009.

Some of the buildings on the the split-site Durham Johnston School date back to the 1920s.

In recent years, about £500,000 has had to be spent on repairs in instances judged to be immediately dangerous, including water pouring through leaking roofs into the electrics.

Parents, staff, governors and the local education authority now accept the only way forward is to build a new £25m single-site school for the 1,500 pupils. A further £11m still has to be raised for the project.

However, the Government's strict criteria means the school, which has the highest A-level pass rate in County Durham and consistently out- performs several of the region's private schools, will not receive the money it needs until the fourth wave of the building programme, likely to be another ten to 12 years.

Councillor Neil Foster, Durham County Council's cabinet member for education, said: "The condition of the buildings means we cannot wait until the school qualifies."

Headteacher Caroline Rob-erts said: "We have been waiting for a long time and if we have to carry on waiting then, to a certain extent, we understand, but we don't support it."