Conservative Cllr Ralph Muncer has floated the idea that Hertfordshire children should be given priority access to the county's schools.

Speaking at the latest meeting of the full county council, Cllr Muncer told councillors of children from Codicote and Kimpton who had failed to secure places at schools in Harpenden and St Albans.

Yet he said places at the same schools had been allocated to children from the neighbouring boroughs of Luton and Bedfordshire.

And he asked executive member for education, SEND and inclusion, Cllr Mark Watkin, whether the county should adopt a 'Hertfordshire first' approach.

"We are very fortunate that across Hertfordshire we have some absolutely fantastic schools," said Cllr Muncer (Con, Knebworth and Codicote)

"And it's no wonder that people want to come from out-of-area into our schools.

"But I have a situation within my division – and I know I'm not alone in this – that children, particularly in the south, in Codicote and Kimpton, are not being able to access schools in Harpenden and St Albans.

"But we do have a situation whereby children from out-of-area, particularly from Luton and Bedfordshire, are actually taking up places in those schools.

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"And therefore does the executive member agree with me that we should adopt a 'Hertfordshire first' approach to school admissions, whereby those children who live in Hertfordshire – whose parents pay their taxes to this authority – are allocated a school place within the county, before any child and any family who lives out of the area?"

But, in response. Cllr Watkin (Liberal Democrat, Nascot Park) said he did not agree.

"I am not keen on that because actually there's an awful lot of movement in both directions," he said.

"Hertfordshire parents go to other schools in Buckinghamshire and in the London boroughs.

"And if we started to put up barriers, then frankly, we are then getting a distorted flow of parents moving in both directions

"I fully respect and understand the particular situations in Harpenden. And obviously, we look closely at the level of demand for places in there.

"But once we start trying to have a 'Hertfordshire for Hertfordshire children' approach, it becomes very territorial, and I think we might rue the results that would follow from that."

Cllr Watkin made the remarks at a meeting of the full county council on May 19.

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