THE opening of the North Swindon free school has been put back until at least September 2017 while a suitable location is found.

Earlier this year New College won a bid to build a new secondary school in the north of the town with a 2016 start date initially earmarked.

But the Department for Education, who are responsible for buying the new land and building the school, has not yet completed the necessary work putting back the start date by a year.

It is not known exactly where the school will be located at this stage but there are four potential sites with Tadpole Farm and the former Motorola factory among the front-runners.

A statement from the bidding team earlier this week confirmed the change and apologised to parents who had declared an interest, but New College principal Graham Taylor believes the extra year will give them the time to properly prepare.

He said: “We are now 100 per cent in the hands of the Department for Education which has to purchase the land and build the school. The control of this is down to them and this process has not been completed.

“Therefore we are not confident it will be done in time for September 2016 but are confident everything will be done in time for 2017.

“So rather than rush things we are putting the opening back. From our perspective we are ready to move forward but we want to make sure everything is done properly.”

Swindon became the first town in the country to have two successful free school bids in one round last March as the Diocese of Bristol backed bid, which will be more central, was also successful.

Like North Swindon, the exact location of the school is not known but Wichelstowe is a likely location so the school caters for the new housing development.

However, there is much greater demand in the north of the town where the Tadpole Farm development is well underway.

It was initially thought the delay in opening could lead to some problems for pupils looking to start in 2016 due a shortage in places but the council say this will not be the case as long as the school opens when planned.

A spokesman said: “There are currently enough secondary school places for children in Swindon for the next two academic years. However, Swindon will need to have additional secondary school capacity from September 2018, which is why the Council has supported the recent free school applications.”