A petition calling for a delay to the introduction of a city's new catchment area and lottery secondary school admissions system has been unsuccessful.

Campaigners had hoped Brighton and Hove City Council's schools' committee might reconsider the controversial scheme after the Conservatives became the council's dominant party in the elections last month.

But a petition from independent councillor Jayne Bennett asking for an urgent review of the scheme was rejected by the children and young people's trust board on Monday.

City councillor Vanessa Brown, the new committee chairwoman, said the council was now powerless to stop the system agreed in February before its scheduled introduction in September 2008.

She said the only person who could make changes before then was schools adjudicator Richard Lindley, who is due to visit the city next week after several parents wrote to him with complaints.

Conservative Coun Brown said council staff would carry out a review of the new system this autumn, once the first group of parents to use it have submitted their application forms.

The data from those applications will be used to see whether beneficial changes could be made.

The new system was designed by councillors, council staff and a working group of parents to address concerns that the current version was unfair.

Under the existing scheme children who lived closest to oversubscribed schools were given priority when places were allocated.

This created problems for families in some areas of the city who lived too far from their nearest schools to gain places at them. In recent years children in these areas have frequently been allocated places at less popular schools a significant distance from their homes.

The new system is based around six catchment areas intended to ensure every child can get into one or two of their nearest secondary schools. The lottery will be used as a final deciding measure if there is competition for places within two catchment areas which contain two schools.

The changes have been fiercely contested by parents whose children will no longer be able to gain access to the school of their choice, which in many cases are within walking distance of their homes.

In her petition Coun Bennett asked for a year-long delay so the council could see what would happen if it kept the existing system in conjunction with an equal preference scheme, which is now legally required by the government and is intended to prevent tactical applications from parents.

Adjudicator Mr Lindley has the power to order changes to the new system, down to the finest details, and also to reject it entirely.

He will decide what course of action to take following a public meeting at Hove Town Hall in Norton Road next Tuesday, June 12, from 5pm to 8pm.

Presentations will be given by the council, in defence of the scheme, and by parents opposed to it. Members of the public will have a chance to let the adjudicator know their concerns and opinions.