PARENTS in Abingdon are expected to be "extremely peeved" after a new free school planned to open next year was not approved by the Government.

The Department for Education released the results of of 77 new free school applications across England on Friday.

But apart from The Swan School in Oxford, originally given the go-ahead last year, none of the new schools will be located in Oxfordshire.

Free school trust Chapel St had proposed opening a new school in north Abingdon next September and one in Headington in September 2018.

Those proposals have now been thrown into doubt after neither school was included in the latest wave of approvals.

Oxfordshire county councillor and Liberal Democrat education spokesman Professor John Howson said: "Presumably Chapel St is not in a position to go ahead while it is under financial restrictions.

"Unless they have got a site for Headington it is dead in the water for 2018.

"The Abingdon one is dead in the water for September 2017.

"Parents in North Abingdon will be extremely peeved."

Chapel St, which has a Christian ethos and runs Tyndale Community School in Temple Cowley, was sent a financial notice to improve earlier this year after its most recent accounts showed it had a net deficit of £79,739.

This required it to take immediate action to secure a balanced budget.

Abingdon town councillor Sandy Lovatt said: "There is a lot of demand in Abingdon, the town needs more schools and probably needs them in south Abingdon too.

"As far as North Abingdon is concerned I am not sure where they would have put a new school."

Free schools are state funded but are free from the control of local authorities.

They can be set up by groups of parents, charities, churches, businesses and other such organisations.

The Swan School, a new secondary school for Oxford, was approved by the Government last year but has not yet secured a site.

Chapel St did not respond to requests for comment