Plans to renovate and re-open a primary school could fall through because of it's decaying condition.

A group wants to buy the abandoned Wimbledon House School in Merton Park and re-open it as a 210-pupil free school - outside local authority control - next September to tackle Merton's primary places shortage.

But on Tuesday night Vince Harris, chairman of the group behind the plans, told a public meeting he had only been allowed to view the Merton Council-owned property on Monday - when he found it in a worse condition than expected and one "almost certainly not suitable for a school".

Mr Harris said the Dorset Road site remained the group's preferred option, and converting the delapidated building - which until recently housed a group of squatters - was "not impossible". But he said an alternative site had been identified - though would not reveal where it is.

He said a final decision on whether the preferred site is viable would be taken by the end of the month.

He told Tuesday's meeting of the Merton Park Ward Residents' Association at Merton Park Primary School that 60 parents had already declared their interest in sending their child to the planned school.

Mr Harris said the school would be non-selective, and from its second year it would be part of the council's admission's system. He said distance to the school would a key part of the entrance criteria and added it would be open 51 weeks a year to provide eductation to the wider community.