The urgent need for more school places in London has meant there is little option but to develop on greenbelt land.

This is the view of the chairman of governors at Cobham Free School Howard Morris, who said there is justification due to the lack of options, stating the Department for Education have looked at other potential sites and constantly find the greenbelt land to be the most suitable.

Mr Morris explained the school was already undergoing the admissions process and said there is now no room for failure.

While the school is built, pupils will continue to be taught at the existing site in Portsmouth Road. Current pupils before years 3 to 13 will occupy the Chippings Farm site from 2015 and places will be allocated on a postcode lottery on the basis of oversubscription.

One of the parents affected by the lack of school places Alex Coward said: "Without a secondary school in the area, [the new school] is a consideration for us. 

"We need clarification on what the intake actually is. The other consideration would be, in other schools we know the teachers are qualified and as I understand it, they don’t necessarily need to have that at the free school.

"One of the criteria [when choosing a school] is sending your children to somewhere where there is quality teaching."

He added many parents had already placed their children into the younger part of the free school on the basis they automatically received a place at the senior school.

This is only the latest example of the need for more classrooms and teaching jobs in London. 

Last month, figures from the Greater London Authority suggested the existing primary school infrastructure in the capital will come under increasing strain as the number of youngsters living there increases by 100,000 over the next four years with 801,000 children set to attend state-funded primaries alone.