A PETITION signed by more than 50 angry parents is about to land on the desk of Redbridge Council’s Director of Children’s Services.

Families living in the Queen Mary Gate development in High Road, South Woodford, can see Churchfields Primary School from their balconies.

But the council will not take a back gate into account when calculating distance during the admissions process, and parents are demanding that they consider it.

Jothi Philip, 33, failed in an appeal after his four-year-old son Rohan was refused a place at Churchfields or any of his other preferred schools.

He said: “The council say the gate is for emergency access only, but this gate is not the same as the big emergency gate which it is next to.

“It is as much an access gate as the one at the front of the development.”

Sonia Litherland,37, is one of the parents to have signed the petition.

She says she knows of some people who have let their flats in Queen Mary Gate and rented properties near Churchfields to make sure their children get a place at the school.

“We are surrounded by good schools, but we can’t get our children into any of them,” she said.

“The council used money given to them by the developers of Queen Mary Gate to rebuild Churchfields School, but the people who live here are not benefiting .”

A council spokeswoman said: “The back entrance is designated emergency access only and not accessible to the public.

“Were there to be public access through the whole complex the back entrance would be used. However currently it would not meet the agreed admissions criteria.”

But Mr Philip added: “We are being treated unfairly.

“We are just like everyone else in South Woodford who wants to make sure their children receive a good education.

“One of the reasons we moved here is because of the proximity to good schools, but we can’t get in any of them.

“I would never have bought the flat if I had known the problems we would face.”