Parents are backing a petition for an oversubscribed school to be expanded after their children were refused a place despite living right around the corner.

Dartford Bridge Community Primary School opened in September 2009 to support a huge housing development near the Dartford Crossing, but the demand for places has massively outstripped supply.

It means some families are having to drive for miles to get children to school, often caught in right in the middle of the area’s renowned traffic problems.

Kent County Council’s (KCC) representative for Dartford North East, Cllr Tom Maddison (Lab), has now launched a petition to have KCC expand the school.

“There are about 1,500 homes there but they are adding to that all the time,” said Cllr Maddison, who has been lobbying for an expansion since last year.

“People are buying the houses up because they have got the school there, but there is no room for the kids to go there.”

"There are families going for miles and miles to go to school when they have got one on their doorstep.” Cllr Tom Maddison.

Cllr Maddison explained that many places have been taken up by children who live outside the estate due to an initially slow uptake on the nearby houses.

That has not stopped developers Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon Homes from using the school as a compelling selling point for their new builds, meaning new families are still moving in.

Cllr Maddison said: “When the development was given planning permission one of the conditions was that it had a school ready to go.

“They built the school and then the recession hit so they did not sell the houses. The school was sitting there open and could not fill places.

“By law, if people apply and there are places we cannot refuse them, so people at Temple Hill who perhaps did not like the school there thought they would try the new one down the road.

“Then they have got this sibling rule, so if the older brother or sister goes to the school then the new child starting should go there as well.

“Now there are families going for miles and miles to go to school when they have got one on their doorstep.”

Cllr Maddison, who sits on Dartford council’s planning board, says that Dartford MP Gareth Johnson was backing the petition, as are plenty of worried parents who live on the estate.

Keren Towner, 30, of Shiers Avenue, is concerned that her two-year-old daughter Georgie will not get a place when the time comes to apply.

She said: “We have lived here for three years and one of the reasons we purchased the house was that the school is about 100 metres away.

“All the parents are going to have to drive their kids to school every day and build up the M25 traffic as well. They cannot keep developing more and more houses without expanding the school.”

Meanwhile, Debi Das, 39, failed to secure his son Divyum a place despite their Montagu Gardens home being just over 0.2 miles away from the school.

“The primary school for the Dartford Bridge development was designed from the outset to be a two form entry primary school within the community campus building." Roger Gough.

He said: “My son is turning four in July and will be eligible for reception this September, but unfortunately we could not get in.

"We moved here in April because — like most of the parents here — there was a school for my son. They have done fantastic work building a sense of community here, but this problem is not going to go away when more and more houses are being built.”

Roger Gough, KCC’s cabinet member for education, acknowledged the concerns but insisted an expansion was not feasible.

He said: “The primary school for the Dartford Bridge development was designed from the outset to be a two form entry primary school within the community campus building.

“It is co-located with several other valued services, including facilities for youth, library and the social services. The building is unique in Kent in design and use.

“The school site adheres to the size guidelines of the time, with little additional area. Any additional construction would take place within the existing curtilage.

"This would require careful planning to ensure that hard and soft play space is not compromised and there is no additional land that can be secured from developers.

“For these reasons, Temple Hill Primary and Nursery School was identified as the most expedient solution to the increase in demand in north Dartford.”