Two schools look likely to be finally sharing the same campus from autumn 2004 - three years after they officially merged.

Brighton and Hove City Council will unveil plans for the new Goldstone Primary School in Hove next week.

The announcement has been greeted with joy by parents who have campaigned for a single site since Knoll Infants School and Goldstone Juniors were merged in name in September last year.

Despite sharing the same uniform and headteacher, pupils have had to remain at the two sites separated by a ten-minute walk.

It was only after agreeing to the merger that the council realised selling off the Knoll site in Stapley Road, Hove, for housing would not meet the cost of expanding facilities in Laburnum Avenue.

The Government refused to help cover the £2.1 million shortfall.

Parents feared staff would leave as the uncertainty showed no signs of being resolved.

But land values have since increased and the plans have been scaled down. Work is due to start early next summer.

David Hawker, director of education, said if all goes to plan, pupils will move into their new classrooms in September 2004.

Councillor Mark Worgan, a governor of the former Knoll school, said: "This is fantastic news and a victory for all those who have been campaigning for a single-site school.

"There had been worries about retaining senior staff at the school if a solution had not been found.

"Hopefully, they will now stay and continue to provide the inspirational leadership they have shown in the past year.

"However, if it all works I know that everyone concerned, including the head and the parents, will be over the moon."

The money to fund the project was meant to come from selling the Knoll site for homes, including 40 per cent affordable housing.

The council faced criticism from parents at a series of consultation meetings and its plans were eventually called in for re-examination by the scrutiny committee.

Mr Hawker faced finding the money for the building work from other sources, continuing to run the school on two sites or de-merging altogether.

Revised plans for the building work now include reducing the number of new classrooms from eight to six and providing a smaller school hall, reducing the cost to £1.8million.

The money the council would raise by selling the Knoll site has also "significantly" increased since the scheme was first suggested.

Mr Hawker said: "I'm not prepared to say how much the Knoll site is now worth because that is commercially sensitive information.

"However, by taking that into account and by lowering the costs it means that we are able to reduce the shortfall to zero at best option, or something under £100,000 at worst option.

"I would hope we will be able to make up any difference by finding the money from other capital funds.

"We still have to overcome other issues, such as the Secretary of State releasing open land on the Knoll site which will, hopefully, be a formality.

"However, this is potentially good news for the staff, parents and children at Goldstone."

Councillor Jenny Barnard-Langston, education spokeswoman for the city council's Liberal Democrats, said she was "delighted" that pressure from parents had paid off.

She said: "This is the first time under the new committee system that plans have been called in to be reconsidered.

"The council has seen sense and listened to parents who felt they had been betrayed over the promises made to them."

A report on the revised scheme will go before the children, families and schools sub-committee on Monday.