CONTROVERSIAL plans to expand a Solihull secondary school has been given the green light despite warnings it could increase traffic.
A two-storey block at Alderbrook School was unanimously approved by councillors on Solihull’s planning committee.
From September 2022 the Blossomfield Road school wants to add an extra 150 pupils to its roll in a bid to cater for the number of pupils expected to come from new housing developments in the catchment area.
Fears the £3million scheme would create further issues on surrounding streets, already notorious for traffic and parking problems were heard at the planning meeting.
Coun Max McLoughlin said the cumulative impact of having three growing secondary schools, a primary and a stand-alone college in a small radius couldn’t be ignored.
He added: “The concentration of schools in such close proximity was always an issue
“The tendency to continually expand schools rather than build new ones has created problems all over the country, but here we have five educational establishments that have grown since they were built.
“Now I can see the school has given good consideration of the impact on residents and this is not an issue of their making, they were told to increase their intake by this council.”
The Alderbrook expansion was signed-off by the then cabinet member for education earlier in the year, but the building work itself required separate planning approval.
