THE parent-run school planned for Acton seems the only hope of providing new secondary places in the borough.

With a halt called to a new high school and school improvements across Ealing, Toby Young and his team are pressing ahead with establishing their 'free school'.

The school - one of Education Secretary Michael Gove's new generation of academies, free of local authority control - is still on track to open in September 2011.

Journalist and author Toby Young and his team intend to open their school in September next year.

They intend to establish a 'comprehensive school with grammar standards', with their plans boosted by the policies of the coalition government.

Critics say the state-funded school will be elitist and draw money away from council-run secondaries - fears which Mr Young says are unfounded.

The Acton resident said: "We passionately want the school to be fully inclusive. We want as many children from as many parts of the borough applying.

"We don't want it to be a middle class ghetto. The only way that will happen is if people like [Ealing North MP] Steve Pound continue to spread misinformation about the school."

Mr Young said 25 per cent of the new school's places would be allocated to children living near the school. The rest would coming from further out, chosen through a lottery system.

This meant middle-class, wealthy families would be unable to simply buy homes close to the school to guarantee a place.

Mr Young hopes to gain the blessing of Labour-run Ealing Council for his plans, but it has so far been lukewarm on the idea.

Changes made by the government - which scrapped the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme last week, cutting funding for developments across the borough - mean the council cannot veto the free school even if it wanted to.

Council Leader Julian Bell said: "Next week, the cabinet is due to discuss Ealing's BSF programme, now in tatters, and the proposals for a free school.

"Although we desperately need more school places, we must think about what's best for the education of all the borough's young people.

"That is why we need a much clearer understanding from the government of what impact free school funding would have on plans for other schools across the borough."

The teaching unions and politicians are not convinced by the assurances on free schools.

Ealing North MP Steve Pound said: "If Toby Young is simply seeking to replicate state school admissions policies in his personal school, then why would he bother to set it up?"

But Conservative Ealing and Acton MP Angie Bray said: "Toby Young has a proposal for a new type of school which addresses the issue of our rising population."

The free school project intends to use a disused school in Acton, but Mr Young declined to say where it was until negotiations on the lease have been resolved.