A GOVERNOR at Sir William Borlase's Grammar School has threatened to resign if the controversial catchment area issue is not thoroughly investigated by the LEA and the school.

Buckinghamshire county councillor Bob Woollard (Con, Marlow rural) has said he will be forced to turn his back on the school if it adopts a policy he is unhappy with.

The school has courted controversy after it expanded its catchment area in 1991 to save it from falling numbers.

The move was so successful that the school is now one of the most oversubscribed in the county. This has led to many Marlow students over the last five years missing out on places at the school despite having passed their 11-plus, while youngsters from Henley and Maidenhead with higher marks and or siblings at the school have secured places.

Cllr Woollard said: "I must be able to look Marlow people in the eye and say I have done everything possible and I believe the school has done everything possible to try and solve this issue.

"If the governing body adopts a policy that I can't live with then I will have to resign."

Following a meeting of the school's board of governors earlier this month it was agreed to review the issue. One solution could be to reduce the size of the catchment area which would be down to the governors and the LEA; another would be to alter the admissions policy giving students in Marlow preference for places down to the LEA.