Another protest is planned after parents in Chislehurst were told the Mayor of London could not overturn Bromley Council's decision to reject a new secondary school.

Bullers Wood School for Boys sent the letter to parents, and the Mayor's office has now confirmed the news. 

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The legislation governing the planning process contains strict criteria regarding which applications the Mayor may ‘call in’. In this instance, the Mayor has no statutory powers to intervene."

Rhian Kanat is a Liberal Democrat campaigner and a parent who hopes her son will one day attend the school.

Reacting to the letter she said: "This is hugely disappointing news but it was always a long shot that the Mayor would step in and clear up the mess made by the group of Conservative councillors responsible for last week’s decision against the school being built."

Parents and supporters of the new school - which Bromley Council accepted in October 2017 before a U-turn last month - have now planned a second protest since the rejection was announced at a tense council committee meeting.

Protestors are meeting on Sunday (February 4) at the Civic Centre at 2.30pm.

A predicted shortfall of 2,600 secondary school places by 2022 has led councillors from different political parties to come together to support the new school in the St Hugh's playing field.

However, Bromley Council say an independent planning inspectorate highlighted "highway safety concerns" which resulted in the reversal.

The official reason for rejection was that the "the potential traffic generation and capacity of the existing highway network along with the proposed access arrangements raise both road and pedestrian safety concerns that have not been fully addressed in the proposal”.

Ms Kanat added: "People will be marching on Sunday in support of getting this school open but it should also be a protest at the improper and unjust way this whole process has been run."

Despite the 'Say Yes to Bullers' campaign receiving more than 2,000 signatures, not all residents support the potential school.

One woman - who did not want to be identified - told News Shopper: "Bickley residents have been intimidated by the supporters and are so frightened to speak out publicly due to repercussions, when in fact they are putting children's safety first.

"The plan is to build a school for 900 pupils. However the local roads cannot support the in surge of cars and people and a school surrounded by three narrow and already congested roads would bring.

"It would put all of those that travel on these roads at danger and ultimately, there will be fatalities."