Council set to approve 125-year lease for new school

Bosses at Walsall Council are set to approve a 125-year lease of Reedswood Park woodland for a new £50m school.

Cabinet members are also expected next week to approve a payment of £1m to the Department for Education (DfE) to start the project.

In 2017, the DfE approved a mainstream secondary free school for Blakenall and the wider area of Walsall. The Windsor Academy Trust was appointed to operate the proposed school, which will host about 1,000 students.

The DfE undertook site searches and determined that 13.7 acres of woodland at Reedswood Park was the preferred site.

Council cabinet members are set to approve the deal at a meeting on 11 February, but the project will still be subject to planning permission.

Since the announcement, many have argued that the vacant Sneyd Comprehensive School on Vernon Way would make better use of taxpayers' money and be less environmentally damaging.

Others have suggested the soon-to-be vacant Forest Arts Centre on Hawbush Road, currently home to Walsall Arena and Walsall College's Hawbush Campus, both of which are set to move into the town centre.

It is understood that the DfE money can only be used to build a new school, not expand or improve existing sites.

The council says without the £50m investment, it would have to fund the required additional school places from its own capital budget.

The site was formerly part of the Reedswood Colliery and later the Walsall Power Station, which was demolished in 1987.

Planning agent Robin Whitehouse described the project as a "money grabbing exercise with no regard for huge levels of environmental damage".

He said: "Reedswood Park contains important bat roosts, excellent bat foraging habitat, and also provides habitats for small hole nesting woodland bird species."

The park has been awarded Green Flag status for the past three years, a recognition from Keep Britain Tidy and is also an Asset of Community Value (ACV).

Prior to the disposal of any property registered as an ACV, a mandatory moratorium period must be carried out to allow community groups to express interest in submitting a bid.

However, the regulations state that if an ACV is being disposed of for the use of a school, the moratorium period is not applicable.

In making the decision, Walsall Council has reported no negative health and wellbeing or climate implications as a result of losing 13.7 acres (5.5 hectares) of public woodland.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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