Top-level talks were being held today at a Bradford school described by an MP as a "festering sore."

Families living in streets around Carlton Bolling College in Otley Road, Undercliffe, claim there is day-long truancy as pupils just walk out of school.

They believe youngsters are using drugs and they say cars are being set alight on school sports grounds but police officers are rarely seen in the area.

Today Bradford North Labour MP Terry Rooney said: "This school has been a festering sore for about two years and the local authority has failed to address it.

"Pupils are registering and then going out of the school. You have to question internal management when this happening. There are key management issues.

"There is bullying, but, in this respect, Carlton Bolling is not unique and it happens in other schools.

"We have a larger than average population of elderly people living here and it needs to be made much better for them.

"The school has an action plan, which I am pleased to hear about, and the police are looking to how they can improve the situation."

The school - which is a city centre of learning and can offer cutting edge technology - is also being shunned by some parents in Thorpe Edge and Ravenscliffe.

Melanie Saunders, who kept her daughter, Charmaine, from school between April and Easter because she had been offered a place at the Undercliffe school, said there had been allegations of bullying there.

She was eventually offered a place at Nab Wood Grammar School, Cottingley, and decided to take it.

Another family living in Thackley immediately put their house on the market and moved to Baildon after being offered a place for their son at Carlton Bolling.

The situation has also been fuelled by leaflets distributed in the area by the British Nationalist Party alleging serious incidents involving Asian and white pupils have happened at Carlton Bolling.

Now families have set up the Otley Road Residents' and Tenants' Forum to try to build up a better community and bring peace to their streets. The forum is looking for grants and fundraising to try to provide activities for youngsters who say they have nothing to do.

Members were attending a meeting at the school today with head Simon Willis, Bradford Council's chief executive Ian Stewart and police.

Angela Dunn, forum secretary, said problems were mainly caused by Carlton Bolling pupils leaving the school during the day, but other youngsters were also involved.

She said the residents wanted security fencing at the secondary school and repairs finished at the school canteen to encourage youngsters to stay in at lunch time

An Otley Road mother whose son attends Carlton Bolling said one of his friends had been bullied but teachers had dealt with it well. She said her son was settled at the school and she had always had the fullest support of teachers.

The council's executive member for education, Councillor David Ward, said the local education authority would do everything possible to help the school.

Coun Ward, who is prospective Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Bradford North, said: "The school has just had its best ever exam results. It is not the time to criticise them publicly. There are problems which are outside the school's control."

No-one at the school was available for comment.