Sir – While I am largely in agreement with your editorial of November 22, Schools are putting so much trust in council, I do not share your view that the county council had little time to plan for the rise in the number of primary school age children in the city.


The current apparent school capacity problem for primary age children could certainly have been avoided.


The fact is that information on children born in the city and good projections on families moving into (and moving out of) the city were available at least five years ago, could be subject to regular updating and, in fact, were discussed in county council-convened forums.


After all, it is not rocket science to glean data from health authorities etc. It is, therefore, a question of some interest as to why officers and the county councillors concerned decided either to ignore or shut their eyes and ears to the implications of these population figures for primary school capacity today.
Maybe more to the point is the difficulty in planning and financing in a laissez-faire school marketplace increasingly only under the control of the Secretary of State rather than the beleaguered councillor Tilley
Frank Newhofer, Oxford