PARENTS fighting against the allocation of secondary school places for children in the Ribble Valley have vowed to take their cases to the local authority ombudsman after almost half of their appeals dealt with so far have been rejected.

Members of the Ribble Valley Schools for Ribble Valley Children campaign are furious that three children at Salesbury School are still allocated places at Accrington's Moorhead High School.

Five appeals against similar allocations were overturned by an independent panel set up by Lancashire County Council this week and those children will now go to Ribblesdale High School in September.

But spokesman for the campaign Stuart Finch, a members of the Friends of Salesbury School association, said the group will now take those cases to the local authority ombudsman.

He said: "Our campaign is Ribble Valley schools for all Ribble Valley children and we will not settle for anything less. The people involved in this are not going to be dictated to and will continue to fight against this for as long as it takes.

"We are not prepared for children to go to school so far away."

Mr Finch, who was among parents who recently enlisted Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans' help in the campaign, went on: "There are bigger issues involved here. People buy houses in the Ribble Valley because they want to be involved in the local community here - not in Blackburn or Accrington and if they cannot get their children into schools here they will buy houses elsewhere.

"This could ultimately lead to schools like Salesbury closing - it is that serious." A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "Places are allocated according to the published admission criteria that is available to all parents. The criteria takes into account a number of factors. All parents have the right to appeal against decisions and an independent panel will determine each individually."

The group would now like to hear from anyone in the area who is having similar problems with secondary school allocations for their child as the results of about 35 similar appeals are made known.

Mr Finch, of Wilpshire, said: "We have so far only dealt with the cases at Salesbury School but we would now like to throw our weight behind the whole issue and want other parents to join us."

He can be contacted on 01254 249297.

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