ANGRY parents are threatening to keep their children off school in protest against being offered secondary school places in neighbouring boroughs.

The Ribble Valley parents have been told their children must attend schools in Blackburn or Hyndburn.

About 20 youngsters from Wilpshire, Clayton-le-Dale and Salesbury have been offered places at Moorhead High School, Accrington.

Youngsters in Mellor have also been offered places at Moorhead, as well as Norden High School, Rishton, and Queen's Park High School, Blackburn.

Maureen Tattersall, of Showley Road, Clayton-le-Dale, said her daughter Sara would have to leave home by 6.30am to take up a school place in Hyndburn. "We earmarked Ribblesdale High School in Clitheroe as our first choice, because we live off the A59, which is on a direct bus route to Clitheroe. Sara's brother attends Clitheroe Royal Grammar School and her dad works in the town, yet she is being expected to travel to Accrington," she said.

Neighbour Julie Green said there was no way her daughter Sarah was walking down an unlit road with no pavement to catch three buses.

Parents in Mellor say they will refuse to send their children to school at the start of the academic year in September.

A Lancashire County Council spokesman said a higher than usual number of children had applied to Ribble Valley schools.

"Places were allocated according to our published admissions criteria. We have been working to secure extra places at county schools in Ribble Valley and Hyndburn. Unfortunately, a small number of parents will still be unhappy with their allocated place and they have the right to appeal to an independent committee," he said.

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