We are a victim of our own success. We have the best schools in the country, and they are extremely popular. For decades people have moved to Trafford to access a first-rate education.

In recent years it has been increasingly obvious that secondary schools were filling up. Families in Altrincham and Sale should be able to send their children to our local schools, but there is unprecedented demand for places at our excellent High Schools and Grammar Schools.  

Children from Altrincham and Sale were increasingly being allocated places in far flung parts of north Trafford – long journeys without their friends and away from the communities where they live. Parents have contacted me or approached me at my constituency surgeries with concerns about their children travelling long distances on dark nights.

Until recently, King Canute – like, Trafford’s Labour Council simply denied that there was a problem: ‘There is no shortage of places in Altrincham,’ they said.

This was especially alarming given that Trafford Council has just signed up to Mayor Burnham’s plan to concrete over the green belt in Timperley and Carrington which will bring thousands more families into the area – with another massive increase in demand for school places.

However much Trafford Council pretended that there wasn’t a problem, local parents could tell otherwise and started campaigning for new school places. When private Loreto Prep School closed down, it seemed obvious to many of us that this presented an opportunity. Loreto is immediately next door to North Cestrian (run by the Hamblin Trust, of which I am a volunteer member). Surely the two schools could be joined together allowing for an expansion in places at North Cestrian?

After campaigns from parents and local Conservatives, Trafford Council has finally accepted that there is a problem and has agreed to pursue the Loreto site using central government money for new school places. This is great news for local children and families but will still be just the beginning – as the bulldozers roll on the Timperley Wedge, it isn’t hard to predict another crisis to come.