Charlotte, our Bristol North West MP, has raised the imperative need for more funding to tackle the worrying school place crisis as soon as possible.

Charlotte, who has a long-standing reputation as a local education champion, recently took part in a high-level meeting with Schools Minister Nick Gibb to raise the issue of school places across Bristol.

Following the meeting, Charlotte also highlighted the need for more primary school places in the city during a debate in Westminster.

Charlotte said: “There is a desperate need for more primary school places across Bristol, and in our constituency.

“It is so important to both parents and their children that they are able to secure a local school place and not be faced with the very real worry that this may not be the case.

Charlotte was one of four Bristol MPs to meet with the Schools Minister, as well as the council’s cabinet member for children, to discuss ways in which to resolve the places issue.

As well as pressing the fact that Bristol has the fastest-growing population of infant school-aged children, they also urged the Minister to Gibb to ensure that Bristol was given a good share of the Government funding made available for school place creation.

Following the meeting, Charlotte said: “This was an extremely positive meeting and I am confident that our concerns were well received. The position we find ourselves in requires action to ensure that best interests of the families, and the schools, are met.”

Charlotte has also taken part in a Parliamentary debate, raising Bristol’s school places crisis and highlighting the need to learn from mistakes of the past, which saw short-termist thinking doing away with surplus primary places in the city, which, just a few years on, are now so badly needed.

Speaking after the debate, Charlotte said: ” I was deeply encouraged by the minister’s concern for bristol’s situation. It is important that we work together to try and find a viable and workable solution to what has been allowed to become a crisis, and also learn important lessons about long-term decision making and strategy for our city.”