Ambulance station to be bought for school expansion

A former ambulance station will be bought to make way for the expansion of a West Bromwich school and allow it to take on hundreds of extra pupils.

Sandwell Council has put in an offer on the former station on Hargate Road, to allow neighbouring Hargate Primary School to expand and cope with soaring numbers.

West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust announced in May that it was putting the station along with four others in the Black Country on the market as part of ongoing cost- saving measures.

Sandwell Council has now revealed it has made an offer for the station, which is based on Hargate Road.

The ambulance station was put on the market for £235,000.

In a report to education councillor Bob Badham it states: "The site is located immediately adjacent to Hargate Primary School, which has been identified as a school that could be expanded to take additional pupils in response to the increased birth rate across the borough."

The Hateley Heath area is a ward has been identified as an area in the borough where birth rates have significantly risen, say council officers.

The expansion will enable the school to create an additional 210 places over a seven-year period.