Sutton Council is one step closer to a school on its £8m Sutton Hospital site after a Christian education board expressed an interest in building a new secondary school on the land, previously dubbed too small by other education agencies.

Southwark Diocesan Board of Education wants to open a Church of England secondary school for 11-19 year olds, specialising in health and science, on the land in Belmont by September 2018.

Board spokesman Colin Powell said the school will deliver and support life study programmes on care and will develop strong pastoral and chaplaincy links with the local life sciences services.

He added: “There is no co-educational Church of England secondary provision in the borough at present and this new school will deliver high quality provision and leadership from the outset.

“The school will be highly inclusive, have a distinctive Christian character and will offer its students the opportunity to grow and develop within a broad curriculum framework underpinned by Christian values.”

The school would link with the future Sutton Life Science Cluster proposed by Sutton Council, which would also include the nearby Royal Marsden Hospital.

The council purchased the land in March for £8m with the hope of building a secondary school. Those hopes were damaged when Greenshaw Learning Trust (GLT) refused to build on the site in October saying it was too small.

The council has always maintained the land is big enough for the desperately-needed secondary school – despite a report from the Education Funding Agency (EFA) saying otherwise.

Instead GLT and EFA favoured the all-weather pitch in Rosehill, which the Liberal Democrat councillors vetoed in September.

The council reiterated that the hospital is its preferred site, but the Rosehill site may be considered in future depending on need.

A Sutton Council spokesman said: “Given that the diocese is submitting a free school application, should it be successful, the Education Funding Agency would need to agree for the hospital site to be used for this purpose “The council’s preferred site for a first new secondary free school remains the Sutton Hospital site.

“The need for further sites for school provision will be addressed through the development of the council’s local plan.”

Parents are being asked to register their interest in the school at suttoncofesecondaryschool.org.uk/register