Kingston Council is set to bail out yet-to-open free school The Kingston Academy with a cash injection in excess of £600,000.

Last week the Surrey Comet revealed the new secondary school opening in September would put children up in a ‘temporary learning village’ made up of portable classrooms in the rear car park of the North Kingston Centre.

The council will pay to do this out of its revenue budget.

Liberal Democrat leader Liz Green said: "Why is Kingston Council paying for temporary classes for a school that is being run completely out of the free school system? This is a system that Andrea Craig and Kevin Davis and the Tories defend as a means of introducing new schools.

"Why did they not stay on top of the process? Why are we paying for a free school?"

It is believed some of the money from the council pot will come from Kingston and Richmond Council’s joint social enterprise for children’s services Achieving for Children - even though the service has been told to cut £7.5m in its first three years.

Free schools, the brainchild of former education secretary Michael Gove, are autonomous of local council control and driven by the Education Funding Agency (EFA).

The Kingston Academy is run by Kingston Education Trust (KET) - a partnership between Kingston University, Kingston College and Education Kingston, which in itself partners with Kingston Council and other borough schools.

Kingston Council leader Kevin Davis said: "The negotiations that we are not party to, these were clearly breaking down over the costs.

"The system that the EFA currently uses does not work. I have to make sure the Government are made aware that to make things happen fast it would make sense if the local authority was given responsibilty for actually building and procuring the school. The EFA should be working more closely with councils."

Councillor Andrea Craig, lead member for schools, said: "It was originally hoped that the refurbishment work to the building which will house the new Kingston Academy in north Kingston would be complete by September 2015. However due to factors entirely beyond the control of Kingston Council neither the EFA nor KET have been able to put all the necessary funding and permissions in place on time.

"For this reason and with the education opportunities of our young people at stake the council has stepped in to make available in the region of £600,000 to provide the temporary learning facilities onsite to ensure the pupils get a first class education from day one.

"Myself along with the leader of the council and officers have been in close contact with both the parents and the headteacher, Sophie Cavanagh, a highly regarded education professional, to ensure that the temporary measures we are providing both meet their expectations and ensure that the pupils' education will not be in anyway interrupted or impeded.

"Mr Mayhew-Smith, the principal of Kingston College and chairman of KET is particularly clear that these plans are in the best interest of the pupils education and safety while the main works are being completed.

"As for the council this administration puts the education of our young people first and it is absolutely correct that we have decided to make this funding available."

A spokeswoman from the EFA said: "Kingston Council has offered to provide the temporary classrooms for Kingston Academy. We are working closely with the school’s trust and the council to deliver the permanent site.”