For the decision see https://acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/ViewCase.aspx?Caseid=3339060&CoID=0

A review of the decision to give planning permission for the Livingstone Academy, a 1200 pupil secondary school in Mortlake SW14 7ET

Contributed by Geoff Woodhouse who gave evidence to the Stag Brewery Inquiry on behalf of the Mortlake Brewery Community Group.

This school is under review by the Department for Education (DfE) to ensure that it continues to meet a need for places in the local area and offer value for taxpayers’ money. It was also the subject of a planning appeal inquiry, APP/L5810/W/24/3339062, the outcome of which was announced on 2 May 2025. The Inspector in that inquiry has granted planning permission for the school.

The following three paragraphs were inadvertently missed off the end of Part 1 of this series of postings.

Forecasting [of the need for school places]

1. §138 quotes the Council’s observation that its forecasting process compares favourably with those of neighbouring authorities. But our evidence showed that these comparisons do not consider forecasts more than 3 years ahead . It is the forecasts 5 and more years ahead that have been used to justify the new school, and these have always been substantially overstated.
2. §141 quotes the Council’s claim that though birth rate has decreased, the demand for school places has not similarly declined. But this is misleading. Reception intake in the east of Richmond has fallen by more than 200 places, or 23%, between 2015 and 2024. Naturally, these large falls take time to work through the secondary population.
3. §142 inappropriately attaches importance to the fact that SCAP allows only approved housing development to be included in forecasts. SCAP forecasts are for seven years ahead at most. The Council fails to provide any longer-term forecasts, relying on unquantified claims of ‘very substantial’ future demand from housing development to justify the new school . The report condones this. MBCG’s evidence showed that generous assumptions about future housing yield would still nowhere near justify a 6-form-entry school. These are dismissed in §141 of the report as illustrative only.

Additionally the following was printed merely as text and not as a link
 (l) Geoff Woodhouse Updated Proof Rebuttal to Henry Kilpin (23 Oct 24) at footnote 2 of Part 1.