Government axing of Livingstone Academy will put pressure on school places, warns Richmond Council

Richmond Council has warned that the Department for Education’s (DfE) decision to axe the Livingstone Academy West London risks worsening pressure on secondary school places in the east of the borough – and is formally appealing in a bid to secure a rethink.

In a letter to DfE officials, Richmond Council Leader, Cllr Gareth Roberts and Chair of the Education and Children’s Services Committee, Cllr Julia Cambridge say the proposed free school would have addressed a clear and longstanding shortfall in local provision.

Letter to Department for Education - 27 January 2026

We are writing to express our disappointment with the Ministerial proposal to cancel the development of Livingstone Academy West London as part of the governmental review of mainstream free schools. We urge you and the Minister to re-think this decision in the best interests of our children and local families.

The proposed new school is the culmination of diligent hard work between Richmond Council and the Aspirations Academies Trust over many years. It would secure a new and needed secondary school for young people in the eastern part of our borough. With its strong focus on emerging technologies and digital creativity, it would also create a specialist choice of education for our young people that is not currently available in this or any other local borough.

We understand the rationale for ending the project and, whilst we welcome the government’s commitment to increasing the number of school places available to young people with special educational needs in inclusive mainstream schools, it should not be at the expense of securing adequate places for young people without those additional needs.

It is true that pupil numbers in our primary schools are falling and this will begin to impact on our secondary schools by 2031. The fact remains, though, that we have a shortfall now. There have been unplaced children and young people in the east of the borough each year since 2019 - that is children we are unable to make any offer of a secondary school place on National Offer Day in March. If the housing developments planned for the former Stag Brewery site go ahead, we would expect further demand for school places, which would place additional pressure on our local secondary schools.

It is not an adequate remedy to suggest that young people travel to secondary schools with available capacity in our neighbouring London boroughs of Wandsworth and Hammersmith and Fulham. As you will be aware, the closure of Hammersmith Bridge, since 2019, due to significant structural concerns, has made travelling from Richmond to Hammersmith highly challenging, particularly at peak times. While some schools in the western part of Wandsworth would be a possibility, young people and their families consistently tell us that their preference is to attend schools in their own borough close to their friendship and support networks. We want to give them that choice.

If the final Ministerial decision is to proceed with the cancellation of the Livingstone Academy - and we hope you will re-consider this - the only viable solution would be to create additional capacity at Christ’s School in Richmond and at LIFT Richmond Park School. We would appreciate your department's support in achieving that, including with capital funding to support expansion if insufficient resources are available through our Basic Need Grant allocations.