Mounting pressure for Reform to confirm position on unpopular Walsall school project

An unpopular school project in Birchills will be hashed out by councillors next week in Walsall. 

Ahead of the full council meeting on July 27, two questions have been submitted by a local campaigner and former councillor, and a notice of motion has been submitted by opposition group leaders. 

In 2017, the Department for Education announced its plan to build a £50m 1000-place school on Reedswood Park woodland. 

Planning documents published earlier this month confirmed details of the Windsor Apollo Academy which will see the destruction of 13.7 acres of woodland. 

Ecological surveys carried out found 30 different bird species, nine species of bat, six reptile species and at least half a dozen types of mammals in the area. 

However, consultants appointed by the DfE described the open space as ‘poor quality’ and said the proposed benefits outweigh the ‘limited harm’. A decision on the planning application is expected in September 2026. 

As well as the loss of green space, residents have fiercely opposed the plans over the chosen access route, Reedswood Lane. 

Locals say the residential street is often congested and reduced to a single track as on-street parking lines both sides of the road. 

Residents also have unanswered questions about why other vacant schools in the area haven’t been chosen for the project instead.  

Mark Statham was the former Conservative portfolio holder for children’s services prior to the local elections. 

At next week’s meeting he will ask the new Reform post-holder how it will fulfil its statutory duty to offer all Walsall children a secondary school place for September 2027.

Prior to the May elections Reform confirmed that the party did not support the school being built at the site and said statistics show a surplus of school places within the borough. 

Earlier this year when Mr Statham was portfolio holder, he said the council was facing a shortfall of about 200 school places for September 2027 and that the DfE funding is only available to build a new school, not to repurpose or expand another school. 

A question has also been submitted by Mark Webster, a Birchills resident and campaigner in the fight to save the woodland. 

He asks the council to explain the rationale behind choosing the site for the school development, to confirm that all alternative sites have been assessed, and asks if the council will consider abandoning the proposal in light of the opposition. 

Finally, Councillor Aftab Nawaz and Councillor Khizar Hussain of Walsall Community Independents (WCI) have submitted a Notice of Motion. 

It calls for the council to recognise that the project would worsen traffic and congestion, confirm that the site is part of Reedswood Park, and that residents’ voices have so far been ignored by those pushing for development. 

It also asked the council to note that the decision by Windsor Academy Trust to move last week’s consultation event online prevented residents from raising their concerns in person, and that the trust is advertising school places for its year five children within the multi academy trust. 

WCI has called on the Reform administration to keep their pre-election promise of opposing the school and to back it with a public statement. 

It also asks that, where lawfully possible, to retract the cabinet decision where a £1m capital spend and a 125-year lease to the DfE was approved. 

When approved in February 2026, the cabinet report said that in the event the DfE does not secure planning permission for the development, the lease will not be completed and the payment would not be made.