PLANS for two new free schools in Oxfordshire could be "dead in the water" after they were not approved by the Government.

The Department for Education released the details of 77 new free schools across England on Friday.

But apart from The Swan School, originally given the go-ahead last year, none of the new schools will be located in Oxfordshire.

Free school trust Chapel St had proposed opening a new school in North Abingdon next September and one in Headington in September 2018.

Those proposals have now been thrown into doubt after neither school was included in the latest wave of approvals.

Oxfordshire county councillor and Liberal Democrat education spokesman Professor John Howson said: "Presumably Chapel St is not in a position to go ahead while it is under financial restrictions.

"Unless they have got a site for Headington it is dead in the water for 2018.

"The Abingdon one is dead in the water for September 2017.

"Parents in North Abingdon will be extremely peeved."

Chapel St, which has a Christian ethos and runs Tyndale Community School in Temple Cowley, was sent a financial notice to improve earlier this year after its most recent accounts showed it had a net deficit of £79,739.

This required it to take immediate action to secure a balanced budget.

Free schools are state funded but are free from the control of local authorities.

They can be set up by groups of parents, charities, churches, businesses and other such organisations.