DARWEN academy will take the name of its millionaire backer Rod Aldridge, it was revealed today.

And the news was immediately attacked by opposition councillors and union chiefs who branded the move "egotistical".

The academy is due to open in September 2008 at Darwen Moorland, the school it is earmarked to replace.

The council hope the £34million super school will eventually move into a state-of-the art site in the Redearth Triangle area subject to a legal wrangle with residents being resolved.

The full name of the business-run school will be The Darwen Aldridge Community Academy.

Academies are financed by private money and the Department for Education and Skills and do not have to follow the national curriculum.

By having businesses at the helm, academies aim to raise standards in disadvantaged areas.

The former Capita boss is ploughing £2million of his own cash into the project via his charitable trust, The Aldridge Foundation.

But Simon Jones, Lancashire executive member of the NUT attacked the name.

He said: "I think it's egotistical and it would have been nice if the people of Darwen had been asked to choose the name as the council have trumpeted how much of a community asset it's going to be. What next, will pupils be asked to wear his name on their uniforms? And it does not matter what it's called we still oppose academies which are selective and massively overfunded compared to other schools.While academies achieve better results than fresh start schools, the results are not as good as those of local authority schools."

But confirming the name, Mr Aldridge said it was chosen to reflect its community use and his commitment to the scheme.

He said: "I'm a supporter of it and I'm proud of the association and wanted to recognise that and the fact its a community based asset - it's a combination of the two and there's nothing more to it.

He added: "This is something I'm only likely to do once in my life and wanted to demonstrate my long term commitment and this is one way of doing that. What people should be doing is focusing is how the academy will be giving a first class education to the people of Darwen."

Leader of the Torys in Blackburn with Darwen, Coun Colin Rigby backed the name and said: "I don't think it's unreasonable his name is in it as funding is coming from his foundation and with the word community it covers all bases."

But Liberal Sudell ward councillor Paul Browne said: "This is just another example of the commercialisation of schools and rather than have his name in it the people of Darwen should have chosen it."

There are currently 46 academies open in the UK and Accrington is set to join Darwen with plans to transform the town's Moorhead High School into a super school - possibly as early as 2010.

Coun Maureen Bateson, executive member children services for the council, said: "The name of the academy is the responsibility of the sponsor.The academy will provide excellent education and learning facilities".

Darwen Academy, East Lancashire's first, was boosted with a report by the by the National Audit Office yesterday (FRI). It showed the improvement in the percentage of pupils getting five good GCSEs including English and maths at academies has improved by 6.2 percentage points this year alone - six times better than the national average.