The council came under fire last week after announcing it would use anelectronic lottery to allocate school places instead of the currentsystem of home-to-school distance.
David Hawker, children's services director at Brighton & Hove CityCouncil, said the system was fairer. "The criticism comes fromselfishness - parents who want to hold on to what they have and notshare with others," he said. "There will be less advantage to be gainedby buying houses near popular schools."
But shadow education secretary David Willetts accused the council ofsocial engineering. He said: "A lottery system simply means replacingone set of unhappy parents with another."
Meanwhile, 93 per cent of children starting secondary school in Londonthis year have a place at one of their chosen schools.
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