TROUBLED Durham Free School will be shut down unless it quickly solves its problems, Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt threatened.

The school has been ordered to improve by the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and is locked in an extraordinary battle with its own headteacher about his position.

Peter Cantley has insisted he will fight to resume his work, while the governors have stated he will not return to the school, in Durham City.

Meanwhile, it has just 87 pupils and the department for education expects it to take at least another eight years to reach its target size of 630.

Mr Hunt picked out Durham Free School as one which would be examined by his planned new independent ‘director of school standards’, to be appointed in each area.

He said: “Clearly there are difficulties there. We want our directors of school standards to be involved and making decision about finances and place planning.

“There is an issue when open a new school and you fill it year-by-year, but we see lots of free schools which have filled their rolls and achieving successfully.

“We see some with poor leadership, where parents aren’t supporting it - and we won’t throw good money after bad.”

The policy would be tougher than the Coalition’s approach which sought to protect free schools from normal scrutiny, Mr Hunt added.