Parents are to be formally consulted on controversial changes to primary school admissions that could bar children from going to the same school as their siblings.

The changes could, however, make it easier for more Wandsworth children to attend their local school.

Parents will be asked if they support proposals to bring an end to the automatic preference given to siblings.

Only siblings within 800m of a school would continue to get automatic preference of other children, although siblings living further away would continue to receive priority if they have not moved home since their older brother or sister was first admitted.

Parents whose children have already been admitted to a school after the changes come into effect will not be affected and, if approved, rules would apply from the start of the 2016-17 academic year.

These amendments are expected to help about 50 local children each year. An informal consultation this autumn attracted more than 900 responses.

Wandsworth Times:

Education spokesman Councillor Kathy Tracey said: "We have listened very carefully to what people have said and come up with a set of proposals that we feel tackles the unfairness of the current system but doesn’t penalise people who have acted in good faith.

"We will be launching a new formal statutory consultation on this new set of proposals next month. If they are approved then we will look to introduce them in all the borough’s community schools at the start of the 2016-17 academic year."

The council has also tightened up rules about the use of temporary addresses to obtain a school place.