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Town Hall leader Richard Watts has hit out at the “astronomical” £33.5 million purchase price of a building for a new free school in Highbury amid claims that it is not needed in the area.

The government has forked out for Ladbroke House in Highbury Grove, it emerged this week, despite there being two high-performing secondary schools in the immediate area.

The former London Metropolitan University building would be turned into a 750-place secondary school and 250-place sixth form, along with a “boutique residential development”, according to an architect’s brief.

“This is an extraordinary acquisition by the government,” Cllr Watts said. “They have spent £33.5m on a building when there are two very-well-thought-of local schools nearby. It is astonishing that the government would spend this amount of money when we are one of the few places in London that doesn’t actually need new secondary school places.”

Ladbroke House is in the same street as Highbury Grove School, rated “outstanding” by Ofsted, while girls’ school Highbury Fields, rated “good”, is opposite.

It was reported in March 2015 that property development firm Pegasus Life bought the site for £25.7m. It had plans for an assisted living block for elderly people, but they fell through.

The government handed the firm a £7.8m profit after the sale in December, meaning Pegasus made a 30 per cent return on its investment.

Islington National Union of Teachers joint secretary Ken Muller called it a “criminal waste of public funds” at a time when Islington schools face eight per cent budget cuts.

“If the government has got tens of millions of extra cash to spend on educating Islington children, it should allocate it to existing schools – not on an ideologically-driven project designed to undermine locally planned and accountable state education,” he said.

Mr Muller said the government had not “learnt its lesson” from the troubled Tech City College, in City Road, where the original private sponsor had to be replaced after a highly- critical Ofsted report.

“We intend to throw our weight behind a campaign of protest aimed at stopping this outrage,” he added.

Labour education chief Councillor Joe Caluori said: “There is every reason to believe this school will struggle to survive with such popular and strong schools nearby.”

The Department for Education has yet to submit a planning application. The architect’s brief suggests there could be a sports hall and dance studio on the first floor and rooftop play space.

“That is not a playground for 1,000 teenagers,” Cllr Watts added. “If the DfE think they can use Highbury Fields as a playground they’ve got another think coming.”

Cllr Watts had heard rumours that some versions of the scheme had already fallen through. “It’s a total screw-up,” he added. “The government should sell the site for housing. We need housing, we don’t need school places.”

An Education Funding Agency spokesperson said: “We have purchased Ladbroke House and plan to use it for educational purposes. We are currently considering options and will release further information in due course.”

The DfE declined to comment.