Education Secretary Charles Clarke has approved the sale of a school site in Hove for housing.

The move will end two years of bitterness over the merger of two schools on to a single site.

It also means staff at Goldstone Primary School will no longer have to dash between buildings in Laburnum Avenue and Stapely Road.

Mr Clarke's blessing paves the way for Brighton and Hove City Council to sell the Stapely Road site to pay for building work at Laburnum Avenue.

Estate agents are in the process of being appointed to handle the sale, which will see the school buildings replaced by 30 homes.

Parents and staff at Goldstone Primary School accused the city council and education bosses of misleading them.

They claim they were promised the move would take place two years ago but plans were delayed when the city's bid for government cash to help pay for the project was rejected.

Headteacher Richard Sutton-Smith's supporters said he resigned as a result of the delay after being told when he was appointed that he would be running the school on a single site.

His deputy Darren Vallier has been acting headteacher until Chris Pearson takes over after the Easter holidays.

Mr Vallier said: "We are pleased that the sale has been approved by Mr Clarke and that we can now begin looking forward to the future.

"Richard was a superb headmaster who left under a shroud of bitterness over the way the situation was handled.

"If this had happened 15 months ago he would almost certainly still have been here. The biggest regret the staff, children, parents and governors have is that Richard went as a result of this."

Mr Vallier said work to improve existing buildings at Laburnum Avenue was due to begin during the summer holidays.

Work on a new infants' block will begin early next year and it is hoped the school will finally be on one site by September next year Teaching would continue at the Stapley Road site until the late summer of 2004 when the site would finally be vacated.

Hove MP Ivor Caplin said he had lobbied ministers about the school's future and welcomed Mr Clarke's announcement.

He said: "The split site situation was not acceptable and was causing stress for staff and pupils."

Brighton and Hove city policy committee was due to meet today and councillors were expected to release cash for an extension to the main Goldstone Primary School building.

Money would then be spent on a £1.8 million programme of building and improvements, including six infant classrooms, a second hall, a nursery classroom, more playground and renovation of the existing building.

Schools councillor Pat Hawkes said: "We're desperate to make Goldstone Primary a single site school and have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to get to this stage."