Education contribution sought in relation to [25/1550/FUL]

Please provide the information relied upon in support of the education contribution sought in relation to [25/1550/FUL].

Specifically, I request:

1. The current capacity and occupancy figures for all primary and secondary schools identified as being affected by the development.

2. Details of available pupil places at those schools, including forecasts for the next five academic years.

3. The pupil yield assumptions used to calculate the number of pupils expected from the development.

4. The methodology used to calculate the requested education contribution.

5. Details of any planned school expansions, new schools, or other projects relied upon to justify the contribution.

6. Copies of reports, committee papers, spreadsheets, forecasts, and assessments used in reaching the conclusion that a contribution is necessary.

7. Details of any education contributions previously secured and not yet spent within the relevant catchment area.

1.

Year Group	R	1	2	3	4	5	6
Heighington Millfield NOR	30	31	27	29	29	31	30
Heighington Millfield Capacity	30	30	30	30	30	30	30
Washingborough Academy NOR	17	27	30	30	35	29	41
Washingborough Academy Capacity	45	45	45	45	45	45	45
Year Group	7	8	9	10	11
Branston Community Accademy NOR	193	199	184	212	197
Branston Community Accademy Capacity	208	208	208	208	208

2. We refer to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and confirm that Lincolnshire County Council (the Council) does hold information that falls within the scope of your request.

The Council has reviewed your request and has determined that the requested information is commercially sensitive and exempt from disclosure under Section 43(2) of the FOIA. Section 43(2) of the FOIA, provides that Information is exempt information if its disclosure under the FOIA would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the Council).

A commercial interest relates to a person’s ability to participate competitively in a commercial activity, including the provision of services, usually to make a profit but this can also be to cover costs The Council analyse various sources of information and produce individual reports for primary and secondary school in Lincolnshire including placement projections for the following 5 year period. This suite of reports is produced from base level data and is a 'traded service' as the Council are not required to provide this information to Schools. Schools are, therefore, required to pay for this service. This information is not already in the public domain and does not form part of the information published by the Department for Education.

The Council is satisfied that disclosure of the requested information would prejudice its commercial interests, as it would be unable to offer this 'traded service' if the information was available without charge under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Council is therefore satisfied that the exemption at Section 43(2) is engaged.

Public Interest Test

The Council is required to carry out a public interest test when applying an exemption under Section 43(2), to ascertain whether the information should be disclosed. The test is required to determine whether the public interest in the exemption being maintained outweighs the public interest in the information being disclosed. If it does not then the information should be disclosed in spite of the exemption being engaged.

Arguments in favour of disclosing the requested information

The Council accept that there is a general presumption in favour of disclosure of information to provide accountability and transparency, and to assist the public in their understanding of how public authorities work and make decisions.

Arguments in favour of withholding the requested information

There is a strong public interest in allowing the Council to withhold information which if disclosed would prejudice its commercial interests.

The Council's commercial interest and ability to create revenue would be prejudiced by the disclosure, under the Freedom of Information Act, of the requested information as the Council would no longer be able to charge for this service.

The revenue created from the provision of this service contributes towards the cost of the Council's performance team, thereby reducing the direct cost to the Council at a time when the costs of providing services are increasing.

As the Council is not required to produce the requested information, it is likely that it would cease to do so if it is unable to cover its costs. This would then mean that Schools within the Lincolnshire area may not be able to obtain this information.

The Council has determined that the public interest arguments favouring the exception outweigh the public interest in the information being disclosed.

Therefore, the Council is satisfied that the exemption at Section 43(2) is engaged and the public interest favours the exemption. The Council has therefore determined that the information requested will not be disclosed.

3. As outlined in Housing Yield method document for Pupil Projections report attached.

4. The projected demand for places generated by a proposed development is calculated using the formula that for every 100 dwellings built, there will be 30 pupils of primary school age (5 11), 16 pupils of (statutory) secondary school age (11-16) and 6 pupils for post 16 places generated.

This calculation known as the pupil yield is based on information provided by the DfE and is the adopted formula used by the Council for calculating contributions. In 2025, the proportion of the Lincolnshire pupil population with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) was 5.8%. This is applied to the pupil yield to give an all-age SEND yield of 3.02 pupils per 100 dwellings. That is to say, of the 52 pupils expected to be generated for every 100 dwellings (across all education phases), 3.02 pupils would require a place in a non-mainstream setting.

When calculating pupil generation, the Council rounds down to the nearest whole place; therefore, the minimum development size necessary to trigger a contribution towards a SEND place is 50 dwellings. The pupil yield formula is translated into a funding requirement using the national average cost of delivering mainstream school places which are published annually in the DfE School Planning Obligations Protocol 2.4 Page 26 of 42 Place Scorecards (adjusted to reflect regional costs using Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) location factors).

In accordance with DfE guidance, the cost of delivering places within sixth forms is the same as a secondary school place and contributions will be combined with secondary contributions towards integrated projects.

5. Projects for the schools will be identified when the S106 funds are secured from developments in line with the requirements of the S106 agreement. If school places have already been provided which meet the terms of the agreement then this may be used to offset costs of that project.

6. The council use the methodology as described above. We assess the pupil numbers created against the pupil projections which is a data set that cannot be shared as it is commercially sensitive and exempt from disclosure under Section 43(2) of the FOIA.

7. Planning Ref 22/1339/FUL is a S106 agreement which allocates education mitigation funds for the Heighington planning area. The details are available in the public domain.

**Should you require the attachments mentioned above please contact customerinformationservice@lincolnshire.gov.uk with the below reference number and this can be provided.**

17881918

07/09/2026

24/09/2026