Robbie Williams will perform two shows at Roundhay Park

Some parents only learned on Thursday that 11 schools would close for all or part of Friday for safety reasons as 90,000 fans head for Roundhay Park.

Council leader Mark Harris admitted the local authority had not given teachers and parents adequate warning.

"Certainly, on the schools issue we did not think it through," he said.

"It was not made clear to the schools early enough that there were going to have to be significant road closures and these schools were going to have to close.

"I am not the sort of politician who would try to give some mealy-mouthed answer to the public who can clearly see what has happened."

Angry parents

A number of roads in the Roundhay Park area will close for the two shows on Friday and Saturday.

Education Leeds, the local education authority, said the decision to close schools was taken to ensure children's safety in the face of the expected huge crowds and heavy traffic.

However, parents say they were not given enough time to make alternative childcare arrangements.

Russell Fletcher, whose daughter has been told to stay away from Allerton Grange School, said he was furious with the closure.

"It is absolutely despicable," he said.

"It is a new term; the kids, teachers, everybody is back at school, ready to get into it and they have closed already."

He is only Robbie Williams, he is not bigger than education Parent Denetta Copeland

Another mother, Denetta Copeland, whose two children are pupils at Moor Allerton Hall Primary School, said the closure would cause many knock-on effects for parents.

She said: "It is going to cause an outward spiral; it is affecting schools, which is affecting parents, which is affecting the workforce, which is affecting other people who are now being brought in to do the childcare, or the picking up from school.

"He is only Robbie Williams, he is not bigger than education."

Other schools affected include Parklands Girls High and Roundhay School Specialist Technology College, while Moortown Primary and Kerr Mackie Primary are among four schools closing at lunchtime.

An Education Leeds spokesman said: "Some head teachers who felt that there was a large risk that children and young people would not be able to travel home safely or in good time have, in the best interests of the children, reluctantly taken the decision to close their schools.

"We will continue to work closely with the schools involved to try to resolve the concerns of parents and ensure that any disruption to the normal routine of their children is kept to a minimum."