One of Dudley’s largest primary schools is set to be rebuilt on the site of a nearby secondary school in the latest plan to restructure the borough’s education system.
Parents are being asked for their views.
Crumbling classrooms at Northfield Primary mean school chiefs want to relocate more than 400 pupils to new buildings at Hillcrest School, around half a mile away.
The proposals form part of the council’s multi-million pound Primary Capital Programme, which will also see Quarry Bank Primary knocked down and replaced.
Parents, teachers and residents are being invited to put forward their views on the plans in a consultation, which ends on March 4.
The scheme has caused controversy among parents who say they do not want to travel the extra distance.
Cabinet member for education, Councillor Liz Walker, said: “Of all the borough’s primaries, Northfield need replacing the most and it simply cannot be replaced on the same site.”
It is envisaged the proposed scheme will not go ahead until 2013, leaving parents and pupils time to plan ahead for the changes.
Reverend Steve Carter, of St Andrews Church, in Netherton, said many feared the plan to move Northfield Primary to Hillcrest could harm nearby Netherton C of E Primary.
“We already have a primary school in Netherton,” he said.
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