BLACKBURN pupils are among the most racially segregated in Britain, according to a report.

The Parallel Lives? paper, written by academics at the University of Bristol, found Asian and white pupils are leading separate school lives in the town.

Researchers fear this could lead to changes in racial attitudes and harm some pupils' education, but leading councillors in the town said it reflected the town's neighbourhoods.

According to the report, parental choice in education has helped foster segregation in schools.

Research shows that Blackburn schools within almost 100 per cent white areas have around one per cent Asian children. In school areas where more than 80 per cent of pupils are Asian, less than 10 per cent of the pupils are white.

The report said: "For pupils with South Asian ethnicity segregation is high where they are numerous. The larger datapoints include Blackburn, Bradford, Oldham and Birmingham."

Schools such as St Wilfred's and St Bede's are dominated by white pupils, while Pleckgate and Witton have large numbers of Asian children. Burnley, which has a similar ethnic make-up as Oldham, Bradford and Blackburn, was not singled out.

Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Sir Bill Taylor said: "Our schools serve our communities. Parents send their children to school for a variety of reasons, most of which are based on a school's locality. We try to make sure our education is the best for all children in every school."

Coun Taylor said activities such as "twinning" exercises between schools, music festivals and sport programmes helped bring children from different cultural backgrounds together.

Michael Law-Riding, the Conservative shadow education spokesman at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "You can't say we have to have so many children from every background in our schools. It's a natural thing that people want to send their children to schools near their homes."