A proposed community sports hall on school grounds will only be available for public use for two hours on weekdays and shut at weekends.

As part of improvements to Waldegrave School, Twickenham, which is due to take sixth form students in September 2014, a four court sports hall will be built, which can be used by the community as well as Waldegrave students.

But the hall, part of a sixth form block including classrooms and science labs, will only be open for community use weekdays from 5pm to 7pm and shut at weekends - a move that has angered sports teams, particularly Richmond Volleyball.

On top of that, the planned hall was set to have one volleyball court, but under Sport England (SE) guidelines the council could apply on behalf of the school for cash to expand it to two.

The ball was in the council’s court after SE agreed to stump up the £191,000 difference needed to build the enhanced sports hall, but the council decided the 2m added width to the building, from 18m to 20m, would mean it was too close to houses.

Chairman of Richmond Volleyball David Rijvers said: “We are frustrated. As soon as they build the sports hall it will be obsolete and that is a waste of taxpayers’ money.

“We understand that education is important and we don’t want to stop the development of a sixth form but they need to have a slightly open mind about the requirement for sports in the area.”

About three-quarters of sports halls in England are on education sites so SE works closely with schools to improve community access.

The council had submitted the bid on behalf of the Waldegrave School but decided not to accept the money and continue with its original plan of a hall with one volleyball court instead of two.

A spokesman for SE said: “We are disappointed that the council has decided not accept our grant offer on this occasion.”

A Richmond Council spokesman said: “There have been suggestions that this sports hall could be enlarged to encourage increased community use. However, due to the constrained nature of the developable area of the school and the proximity of houses, it has not been possible to incorporate this element.

“The council has agreed to work with Sport Richmond to identify other opportunities for sports facilities within the borough which will offer a more suitable venue for increased community sports use.”

The council submitted a plan for the sports hall which was recently rejected by SE, who is now waiting for the council’s latest application.