Campaigners have launched a petition to save a historic Black Country coach house due to be demolished to make way for a new sixth form college.

Kudos House, which dates back to the 1860s, will be flattened as part of Dudley College’s £30million redevelopment plans. It will be replaced with a new sixth form and higher education centre.

But members of the Dudley Local History Society are desperate to save the building, which they say is an important part of the town’s heritage.

History enthusiast Lynette Willetts, aged 50, who lives a stone’s throw from the house on the corner of Ednam Road and Priory Road, has collected more than 60 names for the petition.

“Kudos House is a locally listed building, a fine example of a classic coach house and is part of the town’s character. I want to make it clear I am not against the college expanding at all.

“It is very important there are great further education facilities for students. But I think it would be a real shame if we were to lose this historic house.”

The college has submitted plans for the redevelopment project to Dudley Council. The papers state that the option of keeping Kudos House, currently used as offices, had been looked into but it had been decided the building could not be adapted for use by the college.

All construction work is due to start at the beginning of the academic year in September.