SCHOOLS minister Ed Balls has said the council is responsible for ensuring there are enough primary school places to go round, but said the current shortfall was unexpected.
During a visit to Walthamstow on Wednesday, Ed Balls was asked what the Government was planning to do to alleviate the severe shortage in Waltham Forest, where 162 children have still not been allocated a school for September.
The problem is expected to get worse, with 48 extra classes needed by 2012 and a shortage of space and capital funding.
Mr Balls said: “It is the job of local government to plan for the future .
“What has happened in the last two or three years is there has been an unexpected shortage of places in some boroughs, caused by a number of factors including less people using private schools.
We have listened to what local government have said and provided £275 million, including £4.2 million for Walthamstow to ensure very child has a classroom.”
It has also been suggested that the authority is examining the possibility of teaching children outside schools using church halls and community centres, a claim denied by the council.
The authority has also rejected claims that children are being kept in nursery longer to alleviate the crisis.
The council is planning to use temporary classrooms and persuade headteachers to take more pupils, a policy dismissed as a “sticking plaster solution” by one governor.
Mr Balls added: “If we had done nothing we would have been criticised – it is not a sticking plaster solution to make sure there is a place for every child.”
He also promised that there will be more capital funding for extra classes and teachers in the long term.
Mr Balls said a complex formula, taking into account population profiles and birth rate, was used to calculate Waltham Forest’s £4.2 million share of the £275 million emergency fund.
Some, including Walthamstow MP Neil Gerrard, have questioned why Waltham Forest only received £4 million when Newham received more than £17 million, despite being in a similar position.
The council has still not responded to an allegation by Mr Gerrard that its officers did not respond to an offer of help to push for more cash.
Mr Balls was speaking at an event called Our Children, Our Future, at Queen’s Road community centre in Walthamstow.
Children, teachers, governors and youth workers at the event discussed their ideas of how to improve education in the future.
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