Controversial plans to merge two Pinner schools will go ahead in January - despite an adjudicator finding a catalogue of errors with the process.
The amalgamation of West Lodge First and Middle Schools has long been the centre of dispute in Pinner with the process having dragged on for more than three years.
And even though a decision has finally been made, Harrow Council was forced to admit its proposals had been inaccurate.
A report presented to Cabinet on Monday said: "The local authority's amalgamation policy was misleading in that it led Governing Bodies to believe they made final decisions on amalgamation. This has led to a set of false expectations."
The council were also forced to uphold as many as 22 complaints from objectors who protested about the way in which the whole process was dealt with but the report also recommended that the decision went ahead because the majority of the parties were in favour of the merge.
Councillor Christine Bednell (Conservative), responsible for children's services, was delighted at the decision to merge and defended the council's initial programme. She said: "I am pleased that the matter is now resolved and the way forward is clear.
"The proposal has attracted huge interest among the school community, and I am very aware of the strong and diverse views that have been expressed over the months.
"There is now the opportunity for a new start to be made, drawing on the combined resources of these two good schools.
"I believe the Council has learned the necessary lessons from the processes.
"However, the actions taken throughout were considered at the time to be in the best interests of the children at the schools."
From the start, the proposals were met with strong opposition by some middle school governors and parents who were concerned the merge would compromise the high standards of education at the school.
But the council received a 301-parent petition in favour of the merge and of the 87 individual stakeholder responses, 70 also supported the plans.
Although as part of the decision mediation has been offered to help rebuild relationships between the warring governing bodies the complainants could still take the decision to judicial review.
