THE Christopher Whitehead High School saga seems to go on and on.

The latest broadside comes from city MP Mike Foster who, together with a number of parents, St John's residents and local councillors, is pressing for the county to commit to a rebuild on the present site.

This sounds an easy option, and it is one which was recently reinforced with a ruling from the office of John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister - but the reality may be a little different.

There are, according to county council officers, major logistical difficulties with this plan, if it could be achieved at all - and many think it cannot.

Add to this the fact that these major logistical difficulties, if they can be overcome, will almost certainly mean a hefty rise in the build and ancilliary costs, and you have big problems indeed.

So, there is some justifiable reluctance to go down this road.

What is becoming increasingly obvious is that, once you cut through the political rhetoric and knife-throwing, there are very few sites within the St John's community where a 1,000-pupil high school could be adequately housed.

So the county finds itself with some simple, but stark choices to try to meet the conflicting demands of the Government and the community...

Commit to keeping the school on its present site and risk a "nothing, ever" scenario.

Or continue the apparently hopeless search for another location, but one within the environs of the community it will serve - and this means in St John's itself.

Whatever the eventual outcome, what is becoming abundantly clear is that a "school generation" of pupils have had their education compromised by this on-going wrangle.

Let us hope that the issue will be resolved swiftly, and a new school is in place - somewhere - before the present intake is blighted as well.