The new schools will be ready next September and January

It was originally estimated that Wrexham Council's plan to merge three of the town's secondary schools into two new "super schools" would cost �12m, but the cost has now risen to �22m.

After a review, management structures within the local authority have been blamed for the "embarrassment" caused.

Now a separate inquiry will be launched to see whether there are any disciplinary charges to be answered.

The original amount of money set aside for the project was found to be too small after it was revealed that the cost of inflation had not been built into the calculations.

It would be silly of us to sit here and say there was no embarrassment Jim Colbert councillor

Under the plans, pupils from three schools - Bryn Offa, St David's and the Groves - will merge into two new ones, Ysgol Clywedog and Rhosnesni High.

Council chief executive Isobel Garner said the authority should now appoint an independent person to investigate whether there are any disciplinary charges to answer.

"I have personally taken a lead on improving our approach to managing major capital projects," she said.

Councillor Jim Colbert said the authority had to investigate why the project's costs spiralled.

Construction work has already begun at Ysgol Clywedog

"It would be silly of us to sit here and say there was no embarrassment," he said.

"There wasn't enough information available to us at scrutiny committee to make the job easier.

"The sharing of information between departments could have been strengthened and improved to ensure that any possible problems could have been identified at the earliest opportunity."

Fellow councillor Mike Vickers said members had looked in detail at all the issues relating to the increase in costs and were satisfied that a thorough review had taken place.

Various recommendations have been passed to ensure a similar situation does not arise again.

These include strengthening estimation procedures, project management, co-ordination and reporting.

The two new secondary schools teaching nearly 2,500 children, will place a greater emphasis on vocational courses.

Despite the extra cost of the project councillors say they are confident that they are still receiving value for money.