Having the school in Redland will discourage car use

DOUGLAS Burnett's letter (Open Lines, June 22), appears to havecompletely missed the point regarding the positioning of the newschool in Redland.

Mr Burnett's main concern appears to be traffic congestion, whichalthough a problem in any town, is nevertheless a common factoraround an amenity such as a school. That would apply to any schoolsite - be it sited in built-up areas or in the middle of countryside.

The whole idea behind positioning the school in Redland is so itcan be right in the centre of the community that desperately needsit.

Positioning the school in the heart of the community it servesshould undoubtedly discourage the dependency on car usage, insteadmaking ecologically friendly alternatives such as walking a rightfuloption.

We must all remember the government's and the UK's internationalcommitment to reducing carbon emissions.

A simple fact will always remain - we can easily build a schoolnear a community that needs it, but we can't easily expect a wholecommunity to move to a location otherwise more suited, without addingto existing problems.

Finally, Mr Burnett questions why a smaller school was turned downon the site in the past, implying a problem with the site. Quitesimply at that time, a basic-need report identified no real need forsuch a facility.

The fact that a new secondary school has now been decided for thesite quite simply shows that the agenda now on the table indicatesthat, after decades of deficiency in this respect, Bristol NorthCentral is finally to be given the school that it always deserved andBristol council have finally listened!