EDUCATION Secretary Charles Clarke was today branded a "disgrace" for snubbing an invitation to visit Burnley's DIY School when he travels to the town next week.

But the government minister said he had not included the facility in Valley Street in his itinerary because he had not received an official request.

Families and supporters of the DIY School have now vowed to gatecrash his visit on Wednesday in a determined bid to have their say and highlight the education crisis facing some secondary schools in the area.

Parents set up temporary classrooms when their children failed to gain a place at their first choice school and have pushed for Mr Clarke to visit for more than a year.

But they were outraged to discover he will not include the stop in his schedule when he is in Burnley on Wednesday.

A spokesman said that by snubbing the school, the government's education supremo would be ignoring the only real issue in Burnley.

But a spokesman for the office of Charles Clarke said he would not be going to the DIY School

as he had not been invited.

He added: "The Secretary of State has not received an official invitation to visit the DIY School and even if he did, he would have to consider it along with the many other invitations he receives."

A spokesman for the DIY School said: "I am not going to let Charles Clarke come to Burnley without trying to see him. We will tackle him without a shadow of a doubt.

"I want to tell him what is going on and how children are being let down in Burnley.

"It's a disgrace. If he by-passes the DIY School he will by-pass the only real issue in Burnley."

But Burnley MP Peter Pike today said there was no way Mr Clarke would visit the DIY School "in a hundred years."

He said: "He will definitely not be going to the DIY School, he really will not have the time.

"Let's be realistic. The DIY School is not going to get Charles Clarke to visit him in a hundred years. It would just be unrealistic to expect him to call."

Mr Clarke is due to open a new learning centre at Towneley High School and visit Turf Moor, before travelling to Preston North End's Deepdale stadium.

The DIY School was set up by parents of 11 children who were told they would not be given places at the schools of their choice. A number of those children than gained places on appeal, but a handful remain at the school.

The allocation of school places has been a problem in Burnley for a number of years, but education chiefs at County Hall have failed to find a solution.

The problems centre on three schools -- Habergham, Ivy Bank and Gawthorpe. Each year the schools receive more applications for places than they can take.

Many parents, particularly those living close to the three schools, feel aggrieved at having to send their children to schools on the opposite side of the town.

Mr Clarke has, however, taken a personal interest in the problems surrounding the allocation of secondary school places in Burnley.

In the past he has met with representatives of Lancashire County Council and Mr Pike to discuss the problems.