A worried landscaping company has insisted it is not going anywhere after the land it leases from Hounslow borough was promised to a controversial new school.

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) agreed to purchase a large site in Hospital Bridge Road, in Whitton, from Hounslow for Turing House School, which is currently based in an old office block in Queen’s Road, Teddington.

Kingston Landscape Group (KLG), which rents the site, says it was not made aware of the deal until it was reported in the local press.

With an annual turnover of more than £7million, KLG also runs two of its own plant nurseries – the Otter Nursery and Sempervirens – from its Hospital Bridge Road site.

It currently employs 84 full-time members of staff – with additional seasonal workers hired in the summer – and conducts many local landscaping renovation projects, including that of the Royal Star and Garter Home in Richmond.

KLG said customers have started to assume the company will be forced to leave, but managing director Steve Evans said he believes this will not happen.

The Russell Education Trust (RET), which runs Turing House, and the EFA indicated KLG will not be forced to move, although Hounslow Council declined to comment.

The council also refused to deny the accusation that it failed to notify KLG of the sale of the land to the EFA, although it said it is now in negotiations with KLG.

Mr Evans said: “(Customers) probably will have seen the school is moving in here and think there’s no point coming here anymore.

“Hounslow have the right to make us leave. But I think the intention is for us to stay.

“We employ a lot of people here. There would be a lot of anger in the local community.

“(Hounslow) didn’t tell us before agreeing to sell the land. Given the opportunity I’d love to buy it myself. I’d love to invest in this area, and build on this land myself.”

A Department for Education (DfE) spokesman said: “We have been liaising with Kingston Landscape Group's landlord to acquire this site and our intention is that they continue to operate from this site.”

An RET spokesman said it was the trust’s understanding KLG’s future was “not in doubt”.

Turing House School’s policy of taking 80 per cent of its intake from Teddington – even after it moves to Whitton – has attracted criticism in the past, with the Richmond Council leader accusing it of “cherry-picking” students.

Mr Evans also raised concerns about the extent to which the school and KLG could co-exist, citing the frequency with which large lorries arrive to make deliveries.

He asked: “How are we going to function together?

“We’ve got great big lorries delivering plants from all over the world, particularly early in the morning. Huge lorries early in the morning.”

A DfE spokesman said it would it would work to ensure the school’s highways strategy will meet safety standards, and that it “remains committed” to allowing KLG and the school to co-exist.