A PETITION has been launched to try to scupper the opening of a new free school in the north of the city.
The Nottingham Free School is set to open in the Sherwood area in 15 months' time.
It will be run by the Torch Academy Gateway Trust, which is also behind Toot Hill School in Bingham.
Bosses say it will help ease a shortage of places.
But it has received extensive opposition, not least from teaching unions, schools and academies. Now the National Union of Teachers has launched an online petition.
Rob Illingworth, joint secretary of the south Notts branch, said: "[It] is wasting taxpayers' money in a time of austerity, building and funding a school that the area neither needs nor had requested.
"This school will also take the education of local children further outside the democratic control of local people."
The free school is provisionally scheduled for a September 2014 opening for Year 7 pupils. Initially it plans to accommodate 90 to 120 pupils in each year group, meaning there could be up to 600 in four years.
Potential locations haven't been revealed.
Free schools – championed by Education Secretary Mi chael Gove on the grounds of choice – are free from local authority control and funded direct from central Government.
To be discussed in Parliament, the petition needs 100,000 signatures. Colin Tucker, from the Nottingham Hands Off Our Schools group, which opposes free schools, said: "We do not even know in which area of Nottingham it will be located although we have heard rumours about Sherwood. It has little over a year to turn whatever premises they can find into a fully-functioning school.
"We believe for these reasons there is every chance that the school will not happen.
"There are a number of good schools in the area and no shortage of places so the Nottingham Free School is not really adding any dimension in terms of choice."
Father of two Pete Smith, 37, of Arnold, said: "I don't see the need for it."
But Jonathan Taylor, of the trust, said: "The Nottingham Free School has been given the go-ahead to open due to the overwhelming demand expressed by parents in the area. Over 250 parents signed up for the Nottingham Free School and the Torch Academy Gateway Trust is a recognised local provider of outstanding education provision.
"Currently, children leaving primary school in the Sherwood, Carrington, Mapperley Park and Woodthorpe areas have no natural local secondary school provision. The Nottingham Free School will allow children from local primary schools to attend a secondary school that is based in their community with their friends and classmates."