MORE parents are unhappy with the region’s primary schools after a big leap in the number appealing against the places allocated to their children.

The number of protests heard in 2007-8 rose sharply in both the North-East – from 630 to 980 – and North Yorkshire – from 120 to 186 – official statistics revealed.

The Conservatives leapt on the figures as evidence of the need to allow other providers to step in, to “open new state schools wherever parents want them”.

But the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) insisted a similar rise nationwide was triggered by publicity given to its new admissions code, which was working well.

At the same time, there has been an explosion in internet advice services, offering expert help to overturn local education authorities’ decisions on appeal, it said.

However, the figures also revealed a dip in the proportion of parents winning their appeal in the North-East, from 47.6 per cent to 46.7 per cent, and a big fall in North Yorkshire, from 74.2 per cent to 54.8 per cent.

Parents face a “postcode lottery”, with appeals most likely to be successful in Redcar and Cleveland (90.9 per cent), County Durham (72.7 per cent) and Middlesbrough (66.7 per cent).

Disappointment was far more likely in York (27.3 per cent successful), Gateshead (27.7 per cent), Sunderland (34 per cent) and Darlington (36.7 per cent).

At secondary level, there was only a small rise in the number of appeals heard in the North-East (from 1,400 to 1,440), but a sharp increase in North Yorkshire (from 472 to 665).

Again, there were big variations in the chances of winning the protest – from Redcar and Cleveland (93 per cent) and Durham (82.2 per cent), to Stockton (27.3 per cent) and Darlington (30.3 per cent).

Schools Minister Diana Johnson said: “The vast majority of parents get their child into a school that they are happy with and it is very rare that schools do not follow their own admissions rules.

“Previously, parents were given a school and they could take it or leave it, with no right to appeal. This is no longer the case, with parents allowed to put forward a preference.”

But Tory schools spokesman Nick Gibb said the number of parents appealing rose to more than 60,000 across England last year, with the proportion losing out approaching 70 per cent.

He added: “It is in the poorest areas that these problems are most acute. The level of dissatisfaction underlines why it is so important we change the system, so new providers can open new state schools wherever parents want them.”

The Conservatives have pledged to set up Swedish-style free schools – funded by the taxpayer, but with a private school ethos – targeting, first, the likes of Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Sunderland.