A report today suggesting that Bradford needs two new schools very quickly to cope with the huge pressure for schools places is alarming.

Bradford Council is making a case for funding to finance the likely cost of around £80m for two completely new schools. And it is warning that unless it is able to do this, existing capacity in the city will simply not be able to cope.

The education of our children is of paramount importance to the whole community, and the idea that schools will become so crowded they are unable to cope is extremely disturbing.

According to the Council’s portfolio holder for children and young people’s services, Councillor Ralph Berry, the situation is already critical, with schools already having had to voluntarily agree to admit more than their published admission figures for this year, with 1,800 extra places having to be found.

As Coun Berry says, that situation cannot be allowed to continue. Rising birth rates and immigration from Eastern Europe have both been significant factors in the increased demand.

The Council has to make the strongest possible case for the funding necessary to ensure Bradford’s children receive the fundamental right of schooling.

Even in these straitened times, nothing is more important than the education of our community’s children. But it must also look at other ways of dealing with this problem, which is not going to go away.

Developers who want to bring more housing into the district must be made to pay a bigger share into the education pot. And the idea of Free Schools must also be explored closely as an alternative way of increasing capacity.

Whatever happens, we must not fail our children by giving them anything less than the best possible opportunities through their education – and that simply will not happen at overcrowded, over-capacity schools.