PARENTS paying an extra £100,000 for homes near one of the region's best state schools could see their children denied a place under proposed changes to admissions criteria.

Families are stretching their finances to buy homes on the doorstep of a Durham City school that regularly achieves outstanding GCSE results.

But planned changes to admissions criteria could result in their children being bussed elsewhere as places at Durham Johnston School are given to children from outlying villages.

The news came as statistics revealed that more parents are taking action after failing to get their children into their school of choice.

Figures show that in 2006-7, more than 3,500 appeals against offers of admission to schools were lodged by parents in the North-East and North Yorkshire.

Durham Johnston's intake has been oversubscribed for nine of the past ten years.

At present, children who live close to the school are treated as high priority. But changes agreed by Durham County Council favour those in "associated transport areas", such as Bowburn and Brandon.

Vanessa Kind, who lives within a mile of the school, fears her ten-year-old son could miss out and is leading a parents' campaign against the proposals.

She said: "Durham Johnston is a major education provider and the reason some people come to live in this city.

"People have a right to fair and objective access to their local schools."

More than 70 parents have signed an objection.

Parents have until Thursday, July 31, to make their feelings about the proposals known to the schools adjudicator, who will make the final decision.

A spokeswoman for Durham County Council said: "It's for the adjudicator to finally decide and people should take their comments to him. We await his decision."

Meanwhile, Geoff Graham, managing director of estate agent JW Wood, told The Northern Echo a three-bedroomed semi-detached home near Dur-ham Johnston would sell for up to £100,000 more than a comparable property a mile away.

He said: "This has been happening for years. We get people moving into the area from outside who say they've heard about Johnston and want their children to go there."

"It's becoming more difficult for people to buy houses in the Johnston area because the gap in price is much wider now than it ever was."

However, parents' sacrifice could be meaningless unless the independent Schools Adjudicator can be convinced to throw out the proposed changes, which are due to come into force from September next year.

They propose bringing Durham Johnston into line with countywide policy, following the closure of the school's Whinney Hill site and the relocation of all 1,470 pupils to Crossgate Moor.

School places are offered following the following priorities - listed in order of importance - children in public care; distance from the school; medical reasons; family links and areas of associated transport, pupils for whom Durham Johnston is not the nearest school.

The new priorities would be: children in public care, associated transport areas, medical reasons, family links, distance from the school.

Dr Kind said: "It's not that we want to be a privileged group. We do not want to set up an us and them' situation, but we want to make access to Durham Johnston fair and objective. The new criteria quite clearly favour children in outlying areas."

Carolyn Roberts, headteacher at Durham Johnston, who moved her family into Durham so her two children could attend the school, said she had enormous sympathy with the parents' cause.

Nigel Martin, a Liberal Democrat councillor and a school governor, said: "Why should people living right next to the school be excluded at the expense of people living a long way away? People might be bussed past the school to reach another.

"I think parents have a good case for this to be reviewed."

Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods, Labour MP for Durham City and also a school governor, said she would be happy to meet concerned parents, but there "should be no reason" for children in Durham to be denied a place on distance criteria.