Express & Star

Homes hope for former Manor High School in Wednesbury

More than 100 homes could be built on the site of an "eyesore" former high school.

Published

The site of the old Manor High School on Friar Park Road, Wednesbury, could finally be transformed after running into ruin.

Manor High School closed in 2010 and the site continued to be used by the Phoenix Collegiate until 2015. Initial plans for 100 residential units and open space have been submitted to Sandwell Council by the Phoenix, which is now based solely in West Bromwich.

There have been calls for the land to be redeveloped since. Several schemes, including residential and educational, have been mooted but nothing has yet come to fruition. More detailed plans are expected to be made public at a later date. The old Manor building has been demolished.

Friar Park councillor Joy Edis said she hoped the homes scheme would be backed by planning officials.

She said: "Anything has got to be better than what is there at the moment. It's an eyesore.

"You have got to feel sorry for the people who are living there. No matter what goes there it will be an improvement on what is there now."

Before it was knocked down the school become a target for anti-social behaviour, with its windows smashed and an asbestos warning spray-painted across the front of the building.

The building closed after Manor High merged with the Menzies High School to create The Phoenix Collegiate in September 2010. The new school operated from both sites for two years until the Manor High buildings were eventually closed down in July 2012.

Manor High School opened in 1968 on the Friar Park estate. But disappointing exam results and demand for places falling by the 1990s, saw many parents of pupils living in the catchment area choose for them to attend alternative schools.