It's not a solution though as that could mean that parents with kids at different schools could end up with their holidays being at totally different times. This doesn't affect us as we only have one kid but it would affect many.
There needed to be some common sense applied. Schools used to be able to grant authorised absence on a case by case basis and provided they realised that a child would not be affected by being taken out of school during term time they could make that decision. Now the "extenuating circumstances"...