Comment: Lessons to be learned from primary school places fiasco

With just days of the school holidays left, the debacle over primary school places in Bristol seems to have been finally resolved.

The go-ahead for a temporary classroom at Bishop Road school is one of the final pieces in a complicated jigsaw. And the arguments surrounding it illustrate just how difficult situations like this can become if they are not dealt with in plenty of time.

The Bishop Road plan led to an on-line petition, letters of protest and contributions from groups like Sustainable Bishopston.

And everyone had a vested interest.

But the only truly significant views were those of parents because the were the ones speaking on behalf of their children.

Some did not want the school to become overcrowded.

Others living locally desperately wanted their youngsters to attend the neighbourhood school, and if that meant a temporary classroom, then so be it.

The positions of both sides are perfectly understandable.

Any parent faced with either of those situations would react in the same way.

The problem lies with the city council whose lack of planning allowed an increased demand for spaces to become a major issue.

There will always be unexpected increases in numbers of children starting school in a particular year.

But the system should be able to cope. After all, the general figure can be predicted well in advance.

What seems to have happened in Bristol City Council's case is a failure to plan properly.

The result was around 500 families left not knowing where their children would be starting school and some youngsters being taken by bus to schools in different parts of the city.

Whatever the reasons, whoever was to blame, that situation was unacceptable.

And it must not be allowed to happened again.