ANGRY parents are demanding action for a permanent solution to the Ribble Valley school place crisis.

They have presented a petition to councillors in a bid to end the annual selection scramble.

Parents in villages on the outskirts of Blackburn recently won their battle for places for their children at Clitheroe schools.

And they have now formed an action group and handed over a petition at a Ribble Valley Council meeting calling on education bosses to stop the situation happening again.

They were up in arms after their children were offered school places in Accrington, Rishton and Blackburn.

They wanted them to attend Ribblesdale and Bowland High Schools in Clitheroe, but were told to accept the schools they had been offered or educate their children at home.

Education bosses blamed the problem on a scramble for places in Ribble Valley schools which received favourable Offsted reports.

But parents said education bosses were caught on the hop after a rush of house-building saw a dramatic increase in pupil numbers. The meeting was attended by Ken Wales, Lancashire County Council's head of pupil services, who told councillors that parents did not have the right to choose schools, but could "express a preference".

"This is a key issue that is always fudged. The legal reality is that parents have no choice, but can only express a preference.

"There has been concern for some time about school places in Ribble Valley and we are reaching the limit in the numbers Ribblesdale High School can take. In future years it will be impossible to guarantee Ribble Valley school places for Ribble Valley children," he said.

Coun Frank Dyson said the provision of school places in Ribble Valley was being distorted by the fact that Clitheroe Royal Grammar School and St Augustine's RC High School, Billington, had their own selection procedures.

"Unless there is a coming together of the various systems, a number of pupils will continue to suffer each year," he said.

The parents presented their petition to Ribble Valley deputy mayor Chris Holtom, who is a member of Lancashire County Council's education sub-committee.

He was due to hand it over to fellow county councillors at a meeting today.

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