ST ALBANS' schools have become victims of their own success.

Their constant high marks in government league tables mean that they are oversubscribed, leaving parents and children disappointed and angry when they are forced to travel out of the area to schools in Watford and Hemel Hempstead.

The admissions system has already been overhauled by Hertfordshire County Council but St Albans is a unique case, with what has become an annual round of parents appealing against the school their child has been allocated.

Pressure on the area's schools will become greater as more homes are built. The only answer must be to provide more places.

Come clean on water

SANDRIDGE residents deserve to know why they were not told about the contamination leaching into the groundwater around their homes.

Of course, they knew the homes were built on a former chemical site, but that is no excuse for not informing them of new pollution problems.

We are assured there is no danger to householders as they have not drunk the water, but if St Albans District Council thought it important enough to tell councillors, why did it not afford residents the same courtesy?