A number of Tooting firms could be under threat after their business centre home was identified as the preferred location for a new community school.

The Michaela Community School, which is scheduled to open in September, has named the Trident Centre in Bickersteth Road as its preferred location.

But the Wandsworth Guardian has been told there is currently no more room for any additional firms in the building, let alone a free school which plans to admit 120 pupils in its first year.

Should any offer from the school be accepted, a number of businesses would presumably have to move out to accommodate the school which could have implications for the local economy.

This newspaper has repeatedly tried and failed to talk to the business centre's manager, Colin Sandbrook, to clarify the situation and find out whether it has agreed a deal with the school.

An anonymous source at a business inside the centre said he was completely unaware of the proposal until the weekend when he saw a story on wandsworthguardian.co.uk. He believes no offer has yet been made, but said: "They are not telling us anything, so we will have to wait and see."

The centre, run by charity Wandsworth Youth Enterprise Centre (WYEC), is currently home to more than 60 business units as well as housing other agencies such as the Tooting town centre manager.

The charity was set up in 1988 in an area of high youth unemployment and with a high ethnic minority population.

Its website says: "A trading subsidiary of WYEC, Trident Business Centre has brought over 300 jobs into the Tooting ward and has had a major economic impact on the local area of Tooting Broadway."

In December the Wandsworth Guardian reported that Katherine Birbalsingh would be head teacher at the school.

However, with just nine months left until its inaugural autumn term, people are worried that parents may be left high and dry in September.

Tooting MP Sadiq Khan said: "I am concerned that less than nine months before this school is due to open, it does not have a site, and is only just now consulting on whether or not there is demand locally.

“The rushed manner in which this school has been announced, and the lack of communication between Wandsworth Council and the Department for Education on the matter, is also worrying."

A consultation inviting people to give their opinion on the proposals was launched this week and residents have until February to have their say.

To post your comments visit proposedmcstooting.co.uk/