THE man who inspired Ripon's first parish poll says he will not be giving up on his battle for a new system of selection to the city's grammar school, despite massive apathy towards a ballot held this week.

Only a fraction of the city's population of 11,000 turned out to have their say on Stanley Mackintosh's idea that the 11 Plus should be abolished.

He wanted admission to be based on the basis of children's year five Standard Assessment Tests (Sats).

However, of the 141 who did vote, 124 were in favour of the status quo, just 16 backing a change and one spoiled paper.

Mr Mackintosh - who will stand for the Conservative Party in the county council elections this summer - admitted he was disappointed by the result.

However, he confirmed he would still be challenging the county council to allow him to present his proposals to the administration's cabinet.

He said: "I think it unfortunate the director of education chose to send a letter to parents shortly before the poll informing them the authority had already considered using Sats test results and had rejected the idea.

"My understanding is that the suggestion at County Hall was to use year six Sats, which come too late to be useful for selection purposes, but that was still enough to throw a wet blanket over Ripon's first parish poll."

Education authority spokeswoman, Bernadette Jones, said Sats were dropped as a method of selection as they were deemed a test of attainment rather than all-round ability.

"However, the result of the Ripon ballot will be considered when the county council debates the results of its own consultation on the future of selective education in North Yorkshire," she said.