Thank you for your email of 20 April and the attached response from the Putney Society on the Putney Hospital site.

I note that you have copied this to the Borough Planner who will ensure that your views are taken into account in reaching her recommendations.

It is welcome that the Society recognises the need for additional primary school places in the Putney area.  The Council has taken steps to address this by expanding existing schools wherever possible but despite this, the educational planners predict a significant shortage in the Thamesfield area.  The proposals for the Putney Hospital site are primarily driven by the need to address this.  I note your support for a 1 Form Entry entry school at the Hospital site instead of the proposed 2 Form Entry school.  The simple economics of operating a 1 Form Entry school is that such a small school would not meet the predicted shortfall of places in the Thamesfield area and, more importantly, it would not be financially viable.  You will appreciate that schools are funded on a per pupil basis and every school has a certain number of fixed overheads - meeting this for a 1 Form Entry school is much more difficult.

You will recall that the previous proposals for a doctors' practice on the site proposed a very similar layout and financing package.  Given the constraints on the Council's resources, it would simply be unaffordable to give over the entire site to the proposed school or significantly reduce the number of proposed flats.  I can assure you that the proposed school would meet all the required education space standards; the number of flats proposed will be adequate to finance the provision of a school.  These decisions are made against a backcloth of significant and continuing financial challenges the Council has to grapple with.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Ravi Govindia
Leader of the Council