CROYDON Council has rejected a Freedom of Information request to publish the list at the centre of a school playing fields row, claiming it does not exist.
The Labour-led administration published a report last month which said that some school fields were "excessive" and could be used to build houses on.
After the document was published Simon Hall, cabinet member for finance, backed the plan and said he had gone through a "print out" of school sites and found "there are ones that...appear very, very big" and that the council would look at whether it could "free up" some of the land.
He later repeated that those involved in drawing up the policy had "gone through lists" of schools.
The issue, which was followed by a U-turn by Cllr Hall's fellow cabinet members, prompted Mario Creatura, a Conservative councillor in Coulsdon West, to submit a request to the council for the list via the Freedom of Information Act.
In its response the authority said it could not provide the information because "it does not hold a list comparing pupil numbers with playing field size".
Despite insisting they had no intention of building on school playing fields, councillors approved the report at a cabinet meeting on November 17 then rejected a Conservative motion calling on them to amend the document at a full council meeting on December 1.
Council leader Tony Newman then reworded the report - deleting reference to playing fields - behind closed doors using his executive powers.
A Labour source had earlier blamed an overly "excited" council officer for mistakenly including playing fields in the strategy document, only for the authority's press office to tell the Advertiser that wasn't true.
