Wandsworth Council has confirmed plans to remove sibling priority from many school admissions from September 2016.

The only children who will continue to receive sibling priority are those living within the 800m catchment area or if their families have not moved since their older brother or sister was first admitted to the school.

The new admission rules will mean that about 50 extra children a year could be offered a place at their nearest school.

A council spokesman said: "This is all about fairness and making the system as fair as possible for parents who want their children to attend their local neighbourhood school.

"It cannot be fair that a child who lives miles away gets priority over one who lives only yards away.

"This change will not apply retrospectively, so the younger brothers or sisters of children already at a school will not be affected.

"The key to this is making sure there are enough places for local children and that our schools offer a high quality of education."

Figures published this week showed that 77.5 per cent of Wandsworth children were offered their first choice of primary school - an improvement on the previous year.

Between 2011 and 2016 an extra 1,000 primary places have been provided in the borough, and currently 96 per cent of the primary schools are officially rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted.

All parents who applied for a school place for their child in September 2014 have been offered one and 17 primaries still have some vacancies. The schools admission process is co-ordinated across the capital by the pan-London admissions system, which is managed by the umbrella group London Councils.

Chairwoman of the pan-London admissions board Helen Jenner said: "Despite the fact that boroughs received a record number of applications for primary school places, more pupils have been offered a place of their choice than ever before."