Pupils at the new schools will have the option of more vocational courses

A report by an independent investigator recommends that five officers should be informally reprimanded and says there is scope for disciplinary action against three more.

All the officers will be allowed union representation at their interviews.

The cost of the project to condense three town centre schools has spiralled from �12m to around �22m.

Councillors meeting on Wednesday were told that none of the officers were likely to be guilty of gross misconduct resulting in dismissal.

Under the long-running 'super school' plans, pupils from three schools - Bryn Offa, St David's and the Groves - will be merged into two new ones, Ysgol Clywedog and Rhosnesni High.

Construction work has already begun at Ysgol Clywedog

The new schools, teaching almost 2,500 pupils, will place a greater emphasis on vocational courses.

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 calculations.

An independent investigation into the schools' spiralling costs was ordered in February.

The report carried out by Richard Penn, former chief executive of Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council, concludes that the culture at Wrexham Council between 1996 and 2002 had played a significant part in allowing the overspend to happen.

Councillors were denied the opportunity to consider alternatives because they were not told what the full costs were, Mr Penn says in the report.

He also says that the public embarrassment for the council is only mitigated by the fact that the project is still seen as good value for money.

Wrexham Council has already passed various recommendations to ensure a repeat of the overspend does not take place.

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