A Richmond cabinet member has denied “handing over land” for a new school in Mortlake after the claim was made in a petition being signed by hundreds of residents.

The petition claims the council gave the Stag Brewery site to Aspirations Academies Trust without consultation or due diligence so free school Livingstone Academy can be built there.

Cabinet member for schools Cllr Penny Frost said: “This petition is very misleading. The council has not ‘handed over’ any site. For a start we don’t own the brewery site.

“In addition, we are not responsible for approving or funding which organisation runs the school.”

The petition, which currently has nearly 500 signatures, is calling for a public consultation on who should run the new school, and proposes an “open competition” between providers.

Decisions on applications to set up free schools are made by the government’s Department for Education.

The department’s property arm, LocatEd, identified the need for a school in the east of Richmond borough after Aspirations Academies Trust’s previously approved school in east London was no longer required.

A planning application for the site on behalf of the owners is currently being processed.

It proposes building a six-form entry secondary school, to have 900 year seven-to-11 pupils and a sixth form of 250.

Cllr Frost said: “We have worked with the DfE during their decision-making process to ensure that any provider selected is able to provide high quality, engaging and challenging education and we carry out our own due diligence into the company selected.

“We are confident that the Livingstone Academy will be an excellent local school that will provide much-needed local places.”