Liam Byrne MP today demanded the city council explain why it has not taken up over £3 million in Government funding to build a new school in Hodge Hill – despite new figures showing a school place crisis.

City council figures revealed by the Hodge Hill MP show just five wards in the city with more children than school places, but the gap in Washwood Heath is over two and a half times the shortfall in other wards put together.

The news comes as Schools Minister Jim Knight told Liam that the Department for Education was “concerned” that plans for a new school had not moved forward despite the offer of £3.3 million to help, and that the department “have been asked to carry forward the funding allocation over several years”.

Mr Knight highlighted his worries that “despite the effort of officials in the department . . . the proposals for the school have not progressed”.

Liam said:

“The council must come clean and tell us why they won’t take millions from the Government for a new school when the crisis is clear from their own figures”.

“People in Washwood Heath are being treated like second class citizens. How can our community succeed if we are denied enough places for all the kids in the area to go to school?”

“More and more families are coming to see me for help because they’re being offered school places miles away. Now we know why. There’s a crisis and the council seem incapable of dealing with it – even worse when the Government cash has been on the table for years.”

There is an open offer for the Council to discuss the matter with Education officials and the Hodge Hill MP insists this becomes a top priority.