“’Unwieldy’ County Council dropped the ball on school places” – Cllr Jill Hope

Jill Hope, Lib Dem spokesperson for Children and Education at County Hall, has criticised Northamptonshire County Council for their late response to the growing population of the County.

"The expansions and additions to the primary school offer in Northamptonshire look largely sensible" commented Jill "But it's hard to believe we're only just getting a handle on the extra places needed to school our children over the next few years!"

38 Primary schools in Northamptonshire are already over capacity, with thousands more places needed as soon as next year.

"Immigration has not gone up suddenly over the past 24 months or so, and nor have birth rates" continued Jill. "Whatever Tory bosses might want us to think - the desperate rush to build new schools is necessary only because they didn't bother to plan properly in the first place."

"I would like to see school provision managed more locally" continued Jill "so that communities themselves can keep track of their own needs. The County Council's failure to plan properly for Northamptonshire's growing population is one more reason we need to look again at local, unitary councils across Northamptonshire, instead of the unwieldy mess of NCC."