PARENTS and pupils could soon learn whether they will have a new secondary school in Brighton and Hove.

The Department for Education (DfE) is expected to announce its next wave of successful free school bids within weeks with the University of Brighton sweating on its application for a new secondary school for the city.

The wait on a decision has been criticised by leading councillors who have called for education secretary Nicky Morgan to “get her skates on”.

Councillor Tom Bewick, children, young people and skills committee chairman at Brighton and Hove City Council, said a decision was needed very soon if provisions were to be ready in time to meet demand in 2017.

The council agreed in March to support the university's application for a new free secondary school with the hope it would open in two to three years time to meet the need for a new 1,500 capacity school in the city.

An application was then submitted to the DfE in May.

The university already has links to 13 secondary and primary schools across Sussex through the Hastings and University of Brighton academies trusts.

The cost of the free school is likely to be met by the Government with the DfE having already funded the King’s School and Bilingual Primary School in recent years.

A site for the school had been identified earlier this year but its location is officially confidential.

The DfE announces successful bids on a half-yearly basis with the latest announcement in July.

The university's application will be included in the next wave with a decision expected around the turn of the year.

Coun Bewick said: “We support the free school application but we are getting increasingly frustrated because we are locked out of the process, the authority is not formally part of the process.

“We are not in the dark about it but we are not round the table having discussions.

“My plea to the DfE and the secretary of state is get on with the decision because whatever the outcome either way has an impact on the local authority in terms of our broader responsibilities to have enough school places in the city.

“I don’t want to pre-empt any decision but we need to think what a plan B might be if the secretary of state decides for whatever reason the application doesn’t go ahead.

"The longer they take, the more difficult it becomes for the local authority to meet its responsibilities, so I would urge the secretary of state to get her skates on."