I thank R Lawson for the letter in last week's paper. We are committed to fighting on for the necessary educational provision for our children in Fairford Leys.

It is only in the investigation of this issue that the full scale of incompetence at BCC has become evident.

Councillor Marion Clayton told us that they have absolutely no money available to them for expansion of St Mary's School.

Taking pity, I wrote to the Secretary of State, Mr Ed Balls MP, pleading their case, only to discover that he has given them £83.7 million of capital support over the next three years, including £5.4 million to develop new pupil places and £10.4 million to further develop primary school provision through the Primary Capital Programme.

In addition, as part of the government's commitment to make it easier for successful and popular schools to expand, individual schools, via their LAs, may apply for further funding from the Standards and Diversity Capital Fund.

What incompetence led us to this appalling situation in the first place?

In 1988, the outline plan for Fairford Leys stated that the village required a 480 place primary school in the centre of the village. BCC in their wisdom built a school for 350.

To rectify that mistake, they extended the school in 2004, supposedly to accommodate 420. Significantly short of the 480 required, even more surprising because in the interim, the size of the village had already increased significantly with full knowledge of BCC.

But now, in 2008, we find that the 2004 extension did not fulfil its purpose, and the school is unfit for purpose for the children currently there.

Now they propose spending a further £400K extending it again, to allow 420 pupils.

Complete disregard for the fact that we now need a school twice the size.

Marion Clayton asked what we expect of her. Simple: we expect her to act in line with BCC's published goals on local schools for local children, and the environment.

We expect her to act in line with government directives (Education Act 1996) which favour expansion of successful and popular schools.

We expect her to show some regard for our childrens' safety and community needs. We expect her to do her job.

Yours sincerely,

Zandra Carrington
Fairford Leys