IT is good news that dire warnings about teacher shortages do not seem to apply in Bolton.

Mike Tomlinson, the Chief Inspector of Schools, claimed this week that the situation in England was the worst in nearly 40 years and suggested that the problem is exacerbated by the fact that many recently-qualified teachers become disillusioned and leave the profession within their first three years.

The government, which maintains there are 12,000 more teachers in classrooms than there was three years ago, will take comfort in the situation here in Bolton.

And Brian Shaw, the Deputy Director of Education, is no doubt delighted that there are no gaps in Bolton schools and that the town does not face horrors like four-day weeks and cuts in subjects.

The borough has attracted more Newly Qualified Teachers than ever before -- 70 in the town's secondary schools and 40 in primary schools.

This is a major achievement at a time when hundreds of schools throughout the country are due to start the new term next week with teaching posts unfilled.

Some of the new teachers will have local roots, but we suspect the majority will be experiencing Bolton's delights for the first time.

It is to be hoped that they all come to realise that Bolton is a good place to live and stick at the job long enough to provide some much-needed stability in the future as older teachers retire.

Soaring house prices in London and other parts of the country might well be encouraging young people to start a career in the North-west instead.

This can only be good for towns like Bolton and it is to be hoped that head teachers and colleagues do their utmost to encourage the newcomers to build local careers in the face of mounting red tape and bureaucracy.

We agree with Mr Tomlinson's remark on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this week: "The big issue is not the number of teachers being recruited into teacher training, but our capacity to retain them once they are in the profession."

Sadly, this is also the case in other public services such as medicine and policing.

This is an issue worth thinking about.