AN actor hoping to start the county’s first free school specialising in performing arts says he will not give up his dream after plans to open the academy in Colchester were turned down.

Brian Graves had proposed to open Colchester Academy of Performing Arts by September 2018, but needed approval from the Department for Education to receive the cash to go ahead.

With the backing of Essex County Council, Mr Graves hoped to open the academy to 11 to 16-year-olds and eventually reach a capacity of 800 pupils.

At least 200 jobs would have been created had the project been given the green light.

But Mr Graves, a casting director and producer living in East Mersea, was left frustrated after the Government refused to back the scheme, citing a lack of parental support.

The plans had the support of the town’s MP Will Quince.

Mr Graves said: “It was disappointing, but I won’t give up.

“They were also not happy with us suggesting a £125 a month fee for the performing arts aspect of it.

“Parents already pay around £85 per month for a weekend school.

“We were offering 18 hours of performing arts tuition per fortnight.”

Like theatre schools in London, the academy would have taught the National Curriculum but have an extended school day to specialise in teaching drama, singing and dancing.

Although the academy will now not be built in Colchester, Mr Graves is now pursuing the possibility of opening a similar facility elsewhere in Essex.

He said: “I have had to go back to square one but I am hopeful we will have a school.

“I wanted to create a school everyone would want to go to. The plans for a school are very much alive, I have not given up.

“It is no longer called Colchester Academy of Performing Arts, it will now be the Essex Academy of Music and Performing Arts.

“It would be a place not only to study academia but also for the performing arts and music. People in Essex deserve a school like this.”

Although fresh plans are in the early stages, Mr Graves said he is looking at Chelmsford for the new academy and would be working with an established school to bring the plans to life.