LETTER: School places don’t match developments

AS we are seeing a number of new housing developments being built across Rotherham (the majority on land recently removed from the greenbelt), I am concerned about the impact this will have on local schools and if sufficient school places are being made available. In many areas our schools are already oversubscribed.

Therefore, I recently asked the council how many agreements to provide extra school places have been promised and how many of these have actually been delivered.

The results show that 18 agreements have been signed by the council and housing developers since 2000, but shockingly only four of these have been completed, leaving many new housing developments without any new classrooms or additional school places.

Don’t we need to ensure sufficient school spaces are provided for our children when new houses are built? Questions need to be answered. This is simply not good enough.

Colin Taylor, Rotherham Liberal Democrats