CONCERN is growing among parents in Bedminster and Southville over the continuing shortage of primary school places in the area.

Campaigners have called a public meeting at the Tobacco Factory on Sunday, February 26, to discuss the issue.

They have invited representatives of Bristol City Council and local schools to give them an update over places for September 2012 and beyond.

Two schools – Ashton Gate and Compass Point primaries – have each provisionally agreed to take an extra reception class for next year but at least one more is likely to be needed to meet demand.

Southville Primary School has said it would like to help and is talking to the council about possible options.

South Bristol Schools Campaign, a group formed a year ago when the shortage of places first came to the fore, is urging parents to support its efforts.

The families are backed by Councillor Sean Beynon (Lab, Southville), who is calling on council officers to come up with some quick and lasting solutions.

"They are opening a new school in Redland to deal with the problem there, but in this area we have had only temporary solutions so far," he said. "It is not long until the offers go out for places for September and at the moment there is a risk the situation could be as bad as last year."

Mr Beynon said the council had secured government funding and was borrowing additional money to create the school places needed across the city so it was now a matter of making the best use of existing school campuses and finding possible sites for new schools.

Demand in Bedminster and Southville is likely to peak in 2015, by which time a new school – or annexe of an existing school – will be needed. Council officers have looked at 25 possible sites in the heavily built-up area.

One problem is that all the local schools are on cramped sites where redevelopment is difficult.

Governors at all the primaries say they are keen to help families in the neighbourhood but expansion must not be at the expense of pupils and staff already at the schools.

Last year Southville Primary could only take in pupils who lived less than 200 metres from the school.

Its governors have suggested to council officers that converting two sheds into a two-storey building could provide an extra classroom and storage space but further discussions are needed because the school building is Grade II-listed.

Bristol has seen a 20 per cent increase in the number of four-year-olds over the last four years. The council estimates it will need an extra 14 reception classes this September and has been working with schools to increase admissions numbers. It is estimated a minimum of an additional 3,000 places will be necessary by 2015.

Bristol City Council provides weekly information updates about school places on its website. All parents who applied for reception class places by the January 15 deadline will receive an offer on April 20