Sir, - Last September, Redcar and Cleveland Council made the proud boast that 98 per cent of parents got their first choice of school for their child. This had come about through the work of the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and East Cleveland administration of the previous four years. We built a new school at Eston and one in East Cleveland and we began the one being built at Saltburn.

Knowing that there are falling numbers of children coming through to secondary education and surplus places need to be removed from some schools, we took into account projected numbers of pupils in the borough and gave full consideration to the matter of parental choice.

Now that Labour is in office, it is going to deprive parents of any choice at all in which school their child attends. They intend to limit the size of every school in the borough to the number of children who live in that area.

So if you live in Skelton or South Bank, you will not be able to choose to send your child to Laurence Jackson, because Labour is cutting the size of Laurence Jackson to make sure it has no places except for children who live in Guisborough.

All children from South Bank, Grangetown, and parts of Eston will be forced to attend Gillbrook and all children from Normanby and parts of Eston will be forced to attend Eston Park, as those are the catchment areas. If a new school is to be built it should be at South Bank or Grangetown to make access better for young people in the disadvantaged area.

The Labour administration is taking a decision based on political expediency, not on educational grounds. It has put its preferred option forward, which means it is a done deal.

Coun VALERIE HALTON Belmangate, Guisborough.