Pressure on schools in Brighton is having the effect of making choice of secondary schools for many Hove children non-existent.

Three years ago, the whole of Hangleton was suddenly removed from the catchment area for Blatchington Mill.

Consequently, children who are a few minutes' walk from the school find they are turned away and, in some cases, offered places at Portslade Community College.

The exclusion of Hangleton children from a school on their doorstep soon has a knock-on effect, as parents realise their children have little chance of getting places and stop listing the school as their first preference.

This makes it harder for the children holding out for their local school, who are left with the uncertainty of appeals and waiting lists.

With any popular school, the waiting list is decided mainly by "as the crow flies" measurements of the distance from each child's home to the school.

Parents in North Hangleton, in particular, need to know the LEA has cunningly made it even more difficult for their children to get places at Blatchington Mill by assuming everyone uses the new entrance in Nevill Avenue.

This is a mainly vehicular access which, ironically, was intended to make the other two entrances into the school safer for the vast majority of children on foot who use them.

My son won his appeal to attend the school but I am incensed that many others are being refused a place in such an underhand way by Brighton and Hove City Council.

Parents who want to know more should contact me since I am willing to campaign alongside them to right this injustice.

-Jane Erin, 70 Harmsworth Crescent, Hove BN3 8BU