ARTICLES you have published in recent months give the impression that the shortage of primary school places in Oxfordshire is due to factors outside of the control of the local education authority.

While we cannot comment on the situation in Oxfordshire as a whole, we can demonstrate that this is not the case in Abingdon.

The fact is that the situation in north Abingdon is not new and has been the case for the past two years.

It has never been unavoidable but has instead been created as a direct result of the policies adopted by the county council, in its role as the local education authority, in recent years.

The anticipated demand for places was known at least three years beforehand and feasibility exercises for all schools in north Abingdon have identified several options for further expansion of schools in the area to accommodate the additional places required.

Instead, the council decided to expend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a school in the south of the town, which already had a surplus of places.

This policy has resulted in a school population where more than 60 per cent are travelling from distance to attend the school!

Given the above failures, the subsequent wall of silence and the refusal of the councty council to either hold a public meeting or offer any justification for its actions, it is difficult to envisage any alternative system that would not be preferable if it minimised the opportunity for the council’s involvement.

MARTIN BUSSON, Radley Road, Abingdon (On behalf of a group of parents from north Abingdon