CAMPAIGNERS have lost their battle to ensure guaranteed places for Edgworth, Turton and Belmont children at Turton Media Arts College.

The executive board for children's services at Bolton Council yesterday ripped up a 30-year-old agreement guaranteeing admission to the oversubscribed school.

Parents, councillors and Janet Anderson, MP for Rossendale and Darwen, had been fighting since February to keep the agreement which was threatened under the government's new School Admissions Code.

A spokesman for Bolton Council said: "The new code prohibits local authorities guaranteeing places, which means places can no longer be guaranteed at Turton."

The school comes under Bolton Council's authority but children living in Blackburn with Darwen have been guaranteed access since 1977 as Turton College is their nearest high school. From September 2008 children will face long bus journeys into Bolton or Darwen.

Paul Jackson, of Vale Street, Turton Bottoms, is dad to ten-year-old Amelia, seven-year-old Charlotte and five-year-old William.

He headed The North Turton Primary Action Group who pushed for Bolton Council to guarantee the children a place but said the policy was not all bad because it favoured children living nearby.

Preference will be given to children living nearest the school and, regardless of where they live, to those with special needs or siblings at the school.

Mr Jackson said: "We have had 30 years of certainty that has been taken away in one fell swoop.

"We are in a rural community and if they don't get access to a school which was built for them there's something very wrong."

Coun Jean Rigby said parents should have had a chance to put their views in the consultation process."

Mrs Anderson said: "We must do all we can to make sure they have access to their nearest secondary school. I will raising the matter in the House of Commons."