On Monday night we held our second Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) meeting since the election. Our work programme this year includes analysing the provision of school places across the borough. So as one of the main agenda items for this meeting we invited the council officers responsible to explain how demand is being met. Officers said that Southwark is facing a number of challenges regarding school places. Demand, both primary and secondary places continues to rise. The council is co-ordinating the expansion of a number of existing schools to address this and there are also several free school proposals which are being progressed. Further details of this programme can be found in the newly published “ School Places Strategy Update” . This programme is being looked at as part of our scrutiny. One particular issue of concern is the uncertainty over the future use of the Dulwich Hospital site . The council...