A campaign by the Bristol Observer, which calls for a new secondary school in Bradley Stoke, has gone to the heart of Government.

The newspaper has been supporting South Gloucestershire Council’s controversial private finance initiative bid, and invited readers to fill in a cut-out form printed in the paper and send it back to the newsroom to register their support.

And after an enthusiastic response, hundreds of the forms have now been sent to the Secretary of State for Education, Charles Clarke.

After months of preparation the council has now submitted a second multi-million pound bid to help fund the school, after a previous bid failed.

Plans for the £15m secondary school have already been given the go-ahead and it is set to open in 2005, but if the bid fails the council will have to fund the scheme itself, meaning other schools in the area may lose out.