THE announcement last night of a proper investigation into a former bomb store next to a primary school is reassuring, if a little late.

Yesterday the 200 pupils of Chilton Primary School, near Didcot, were forced to evacuate after the rocket motor from a Second World War device was uncovered on the neighbouring Chestnut Fields site.

MoD bomb disposal experts had to blow it up and it was the second such scare in two months.

The discovery of leftover Second World War bombs across the country is not unheard of and we need to retain perspective rather than panic. But parents can rightly ask if there has been enough work to ascertain what ordinance has been left behind, hidden from view.

There were other scares in 2001 and now we have David Wilson Homes and Bovis Homes building 280 new homes on the site.

Obviously some work would have been done there before but why have we had two incidents in a relatively short time?

The decision from both companies is the least they could do and we would urge them to be as forthright and transparent as they can be, if only for the parents’ and children’s peace of mind.