Haringey Council will not go ahead with plans to stop siblings from attending the same primary school if their family moves more than half a mile away.

The decision was reached last night at a cabinet meeting at the Civic Centre, High Road.

Councillors said there are still places in current reception classes in Muswell Hill and Crouch End, so this plan to improve the number of available spaces in schools would not be necessary.

The proposals were put forward by Labour to stop parents from temporarily moving houses to gain a school place.

The council held a consultation in December 2015 to get public feedback on the plans to improve the number of places available in certain schools in the area.

People responded to the consultations with mixed reviews, although the results showed that the numbers of people in favour were slightly higher.

The authority decided against the plans, however, because some families may have no choice but to move home if they are in temporary accommodation or evicted by a landlord.

A Haringey Council spokesperson said: “Changing our sibling admissions criteria was one new measure we considered introducing as part of our annual school admissions arrangements for 2017/18.

“More detailed research showed that the change could negatively impact on some of Haringey’s more vulnerable families, including those living in rented homes.

“Our projections also show that demand for reception places at some of Haringey’s most over-subscribed schools is likely to reduce in coming years, making a change in policy less urgent.

“We’re grateful to everyone who responded to the consultation, and are looking closely at how best to establish more robust measures to enable people to flag concerns if they believe that parents are using fraudulent means to try to get their child a place at a certain school.”