Former school could be site for new tip, says Dudley council leader

The leader of Dudley Council says he will consider the opening a new tip on the site of a former school, which closed nine years ago.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said he would look into the possibility of opening a new tip at the site of the former Coseley School in Henne Drive.

The site is just over a mile away from the Anchor Lane tip in Bilston, which Dudley residents have been unable to use for the past five years following the break-down of an agreement with Wolverhampton Council.

A new primary school had been earmarked for the site, but last week Councillor Harley revealed the plans had been scrapped after the Government withdrew funding.

Councillor Harley said the council would look into the possibility of opening a new tip on the site, but said its location in a residential area could be problematic.

“It will certainly be under consideration,” he said.

“The site is difficult, there’s lots of mineshafts there.”

Councillor Harley said the funding was available for a new tip, but finding a suitable location was more difficult.

He said the council would have to look at the impact on traffic and for residents living in the area.

“People say the pop-up tips cause disruption for residents, but they are just there for a few hours on one day,” he said.

“If you have got a permanent site, it is there all the time.”

Coseley Secondary School opened in 1968, but closed in 2017 due to dwindling pupil numbers and falling exam results.

Shortly after it was announced that Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust had been brought in to open a new 420-pupil primary school on the site, but the project was hit by a series of delays - most recently the collapse of the contractor carrying out the building work.

The school had been due to open last year, but last week it emerged that the Government had withdrawn its £10.2 million from the funding, citing insufficient pupil numbers.

Dudley Council would have contributed £3 million to the project.

The site has now returned to the control of the council.

Councillor Harley said it had yet been decided what to do with the site, but said the presence of mineshafts beneath would make it difficult to develop for housing.

“It can be done, there are ways round it, but it would be difficult,” he said.

“The site might have potential to become a velodrome if funding can be found.

“We will look at all options for the site.”

The site is less than 1.5 miles from Wolverhampton Council’s Anchor Lane tip, which was previously shared between the two authorities.

But Dudley residents have been banned from using it since 2021, when the council refused to pay a 60 per cent increase in Wolverhampton Council’s charge for its upkeep.

Councillor Harley had been in talks with Wolverhampton Council about the possibility of a fresh deal, but last month Wolverhampton Council pulled out of the talks, saying it would be ‘putting Wolverhampton residents first’.

At the moment the only tip in Dudley borough is in Birmingham Road, Stourbridge, although the council has said it will be running a series of ‘pop-up tips’ at various locations in the north of the borough.