The completion of a new school is likely to be delayed by a year because of a lack of money.

More than £2.6 million would need to be found in the coming year, plus £1.2 million in 2002/03, for The Causeway School in Larkspur Drive, Eastbourne, to be completed by next year.

But cash-strapped East Sussex County Council has agreed to hand over only £950,000.

It said the money needed would be more than the budget for all new school building work put together for 2001/02.

County councillors decided to redirect £700,000 away from The Causeway to fund other school building projects.

The £950,000 will allow the new science block to be completed by the summer of next year.

But pupils still face being housed in temporary classrooms towards the end of the project, including students taking GCSEs.

The Causeway anticipates that the number of pupils at the school will double from 444 to 950 by 2004/05.

The school, which opened in September 1998, is now not likely to be fully built until autumn 2003.

County councillor David Tutt, who pressed for extra cash, said: "It is a considerable shortfall and I am concerned at the knock-on effects this will have on the pupils, many of whom will be sitting exams.

"When you consider that The Causeway is a new school, it should have the best facilities available but this is appalling."

Eastbourne Tory MP Nigel Waterson said: "It's typical of this administration that they are short-changing this new school."

Council officials said juggling the figures meant more schools would benefit from building improvements.

They included Cross in Hand Primary School, Heathfield Community College, Uplands Community College and Bexhill High School.