School plan set to fail
Plans to build a 210-pupil village school near Kidderminster look set to be thrown out because of fears it would cause road dangers and ruin the landscape.
The Trustees of Chaddesley Corbett First School want permission to build the new school on land next to Rowberry Nurseries at Lower Chaddesley.
New caretaker's accommodation and car parking were also planned. Campaigners say it is the best site and would be built with a new access from the A448.
But planning officers have recommended refusal of the application, fearing it will ruin the landscape in the green belt.
The existing school site has been open since 1894 but is now considered too small to accommodate the pupils.
Residents submitted 48 letters of support to the council but there were also three letters objecting to the scheme.
Those opposed to the building of the new school on the site near the nurseries fear extra traffic will cause more accidents and traffic coming from the Kidderminster direction would not be able to turn-around easily.
They say pavements are not wide enough for parents and children to walk to school.
In July planners decided to defer discussions for further talks with the trustees about the site or alternative areas of land.
But members of Wyre Forest District Council's planning development control committee, who meet on November 13, are being recommended to refuse the planning application.
Planning officer Clare Eynon has recommended refusal because the site is within the West Midlands Green Belt and there could be alternative sites which would have a lesser impact on the environment. Councillor Fran Oborski has warned the village has to have a new school by 2011 to cater for the introduction of a new two instead of three-tier education system.
"Unless a new school is built the future of the education of 210 children could be affected," she said.
