E&S Comment: Costly business of free education

We are incredibly fortunate to live in a country where it is not only free for children to go to school but compulsory.

A good education is supposed to provide the level playing field from which every child, those of means and those of none, can start to get on in life.

Yet even in the state sector, a good education costs money and it seems could well be denied to those who cannot afford it.

Figures released today show parents will pay on average £21,000 more for a property near to one of the country's best state schools.

It is as much a factor in the price of the house as off-street parking, a back garden or planning permission for an extension.

Tony Blair was told as far back as 2001 that school catchment areas were only benefitting wealthier families.

Yet here were are, 13 years and two more prime ministers on and nothing has really changed.

Of course the catchment area is not a bad idea in principle, as long as all schools were as good as each other.

They are not.

And there are schools that do not have a catchment area as such, but in order for parents to stand a chance of dealing with the school run and getting off to work they need to live within a reasonable distance.

That is a as much a barrier to the choice of school as any tuition fee or entrance exam would be.

State school selection is, in reality, done via the estate agent.

As a result of the increasing cost and pressure of going to the 'right' school, we seem to expect more and more from them. More than a quarter of parents never cook with their children, leaving it down to their teachers to show them how.

If they are working all hours, or driving all over the town or city to get their children to school before going to their job, who can blame them?

For all the efforts of successive governments to change the education system - the comprehensive system, academies, free schools and so on - there is one lesson they have failed to learn - you can't buck the market.

Like it or not, there is a market in education even in the taxpayer-funded system.

There will always be those who have and those who have not.

And the ones with means will use them to give their own children an advantage.

If they had the option, what parent would not?

Show the way in reviving city - cut the parking fees

It is supposed to be business as usual this weekend.

But the arrival of council staff and contractors to show people how to get around Wolverhampton city centre shows it is anything but.

The centre is undergoing a big revamp to make it better for shoppers and workers.

There will inevitably be disruption and businesses can only hope it does not drive their precious custom away.

Of course the reason for all this upheaval is to try to do something with the high street.

Wolverhampton has been hit harder than many towns and cities but its plight is not unique - customers are going online, to supermarkets and to out of town centres.

A face lift and a better environment to walk and shop in will help.

Ultimately, however, the only solution is to be radical.

Derelict buildings must be pulled down. The parking charges imposed on Sundays and in the evenings must be scrapped.

And preferably, those that have been in force for years during the week should come down too.

Town centres will never recover when it costs money just to pop in to Argos to pick up an order.

All the reconfiguration and pedestrianisation will amount to nothing if shops are choked and closed by prohibitive parking charges.

Then there will be nothing worth walking to.