County council to change pupil yield methodology

EHP understands that Gloucestershire County Council (‘GCC’) is due to announce a significant change to its pupil yield methodology for assessing the impact of new residential developments on local school places. The evidence base of GCC’s previous methodology came under intense scrutiny from EHP and others before GCC published its current Interim Statement regarding local pupil product ratios (‘PPRs’) in 2021.

An announcement on GCC’s website stated: “PPRs are used to estimate the impact of new development on school capacity and in turn justify the developer contributions being sought towards the provision of additional education infrastructure. The last PPR Position Statement was published by GCC in 2021. The Dept. for Education (DfE) published guidance on ‘Securing Developer Contributions for Education’ and a new Pupil Yield dashboard for all Education Authority areas in August 2023 and this provides the most up to date and robust base information for PPRs. This report will recommend updating the PPRs in line with the DfE’s figures, with a view to the PPRs becoming a part of GCC’s Local Development Guide as that document is reviewed in 2024.”

EHP intends to comment on GCC’s pending PPR decision report when it is published. If GCC’s revised approach aligns with the DfE methodology for Gloucestershire then this could lead to the following changes:

EHP is also one of the consultees due to be approached by GCC as part of the county’s Local Development Guide consultation later in 2024.

As part of our rolling, UK-wide research programme incorporating all LEA areas EHP monitors the different pupil yield methodologies used by LEAs when assessing the impact of new residential developments on local school places. The pupil yield factors or pupil product ratios show significant variance between different LEA areas and our comprehensive research demonstrates how many of the LEAs’ pupil yield methodologies are often either out-of-date or are not derived from a robust, evidence-driven approach and hence are open to scrutiny. As a result some LEAs request levels of S106 education contributions from new residential developments which are unduly onerous and are not justified.

EHP has developed a unique, expanded methodology within our Education Impact & Mitigation Assessments ® which enables us to review the range of assessment parameters that LEAs use when seeking to secure S106 education contributions from new residential developments. If you or your client have a residential development site in Gloucestershire where S106 education contributions have been requested, or if you are about to submit a planning application and would like our advice on the amount of financial contributions for education infrastructure that may be sought, please contact Oliver Nicholson our Strategy Director at oliver.nicholson@ehp-consultants.com or 07985 065468 for an initial free consultation.

In the last 12 months EHP has assessed over 34,000 dwellings on our clients' residential development sites. Our team has successfully completed more than 950 site-specific analyses across the UK.

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