£20m new special school in Wolverhampton approved
City of Wolverhampton Council has approved plans to move Broadmeadow Special School in Lansdowne Road next to West Park in Whitmore Reans to a new site in Pendeford.
A move to relocate a crumbling special school in Wolverhampton into a new £20m building has been approved.
City of Wolverhampton Council has approved plans to move Broadmeadow Special School in Lansdowne Road next to West Park in Whitmore Reans to a new site in Pendeford.
The ageing Priory Green offices in Whitburn Close, Pendeford, Wolverhampton are expected to be flattened to make way for the new purpose-built 120-pupil school.
The council’s Labour cabinet approved the plans at a meeting on July 22.
Cllr Jacqui Coogan, cabinet member for children, young people and education, read out a letter to the rest of the cabinet from a parent at Broadmeadow School celebrating the “incredible work [it] did every day and the exceptional education it provided” despite working in a building that was “clearly unfit for purpose.”
A planning application submitted by the Central Learning Partnership Trust in May said the existing school was not “designed for purpose” and staff and students had “made the best out of the facilities available.”
The current school needed a “major” refurbishment and a new roof, the application said, and its toilets were unsuitable for older children.
The school also does not have a working kitchen and relies on food to be delivered and suffers from ongoing issues with unreliable mechanical and electrical equipment which are “beyond the end of their operational lives” and constantly need fixing.
The new school would cater for up to 120 children with special educational needs aged between four and 19-years-old – a step-up from the 75 children aged up to 11-years-old that are currently accommodated.
The number of places at the school increased from 54 to 75 at the end of 2022 having widened its age range to include children up to 11 years old.
Two temporary buildings were put up on the school’s car park and a deal to continue using the nearby Whitmore Reans Family Hub for another five years was also agreed.
The cabinet report said if the school was not relocated, it would cost at least £5m a year to place children in the proposed extra spaces elsewhere – including outside the city.
The offices in Pendeford, which were recently home to council safeguarding staff but are now empty, were among several buildings deemed ‘surplus to requirements’ by City of Wolverhampton Council last year and put up for sale as part of cost-cutting measures.
The existing Oasis Cafe, Pendeford Library and St Paul’s Church would be unaffected by the proposals, the council said.
You can find out more about planning applications and planned roadworks where you live by visiting publicnoticeportal.uk/express-and-star
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