The number of reserved places in Dundee schools is being doubled, making it more difficult for parents to send their children to schools outside their catchment areas.
Education convener Stewart Hunter said the step is being taken to ensure families who move into a catchment can send their children to their local schools.
The schools most affected by the change agreed by the education committee last night are Broughty Ferry’s three primaries Barnhill, Forthill and Eastern and Craigowl in the north of the city.
Schools must consider placing requests from pupils outside their catchments and grant these requests if there are places available.
Problems can arise if they grant all requests from non-catchment pupils if no space is left for pupils who move into a school’s area.
The difficulty is avoided by reserving quotas of places for local pupils, and the number of these across the city has leapt in a year from 37 to 75.
Councillor Hunter said the further restriction to take effect from the 2014-15 session was a necessary step to ensure families moving into the city can send their children to their catchment schools.
“We have had situations where families moving to Dundee from elsewhere in the country and even from abroad couldn’t get their children into their local school because all the places were taken,” he said.
“It can be quite a challenge for people to settle in a new city and it’s easier for them if their children can go to their local school but sometimes this hasn’t been possible.”
Spaces can be taken up by families who have moved out of an area wanting to send their younger children to the same school as their older offspring.
Parents can also choose to send their children to a non-catchment school because they consider it to be better than their nearest school believed to be a factor with the Broughty Ferry schools.
Councillor Hunter said: “We respect requests from parents to send their children to the school of their choice, but there has to be a balance. We can’t allow unrestricted access.”