Schools in Eastbourne are at bursting point and parents are being denied choice about where to send their children, the House of Commons heard.

Nigel Waterson, MP for the town, last night secured a Commons adjournment debate on the shortage of school places in the town.

He said some local schools were operating almost 20 per cent over capacity and the situation is poised to get worse.

Mr Waterson called for a new school to be built in Eastbourne to cope with the demand or for extra classrooms to be built at existing schools.

The MP told the Commons he had grown concerned after receiving letters from disappointed parents who could not get their children into the school of their choice.

In East Sussex parents are given three choices of which school they want their youngster to attend but, on a number of occasions, they have not got into any of them.

He plans to visit every school in his constituency to see the problems for himself.

Mr Waterson said that, for example, Stafford Junior School was being pressurised to take 370 pupils, when it was originally designed for a maximum of 280. The additional youngsters are housed in mobile classrooms.

Meanwhile, he East Sussex School Organisation Plan, which covers the period 2002 to 2006, estimates an increase of 1,200 in the number of secondary-age pupils across the county.

It is estimated the increase in Eastbourne alone will be 600, a rise of 12 per cent on the current total.

Mr Waterson told MPs: "The problem is widespread at every level of education in my constituency and other parts of East Sussex.

"I have reached the conclusion that, in the medium term, we need another school in Eastbourne or at least a major extension of one of the existing schools."

Mr Waterson said there was some good news, namely the £16 million committed by the county council to build the new Causeway Secondary School, providing up to 950 new places.

The Church of England-aided Bishop Bell School is also planning a £2 million project to provide 150 additional places.

But Mr Waterson said: "The figures are extraordinary. With the exception of the new Causeway school, which is still in the process of filling up, every secondary school in my constituency is well over capacity, with percentages ranging from eight per cent up to 19 per cent."

Education minister Margaret Hodge said the solution to many of the problems rested with the local education authority, which was Conservative-controlled.

She said: "We have properly made it their job to plan for and provide the necessary places so that parents and children can enjoy the choice that he wishes them to have."