MP warns of schools crisis over scale of Telford house building
Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard today warned of a "huge school place crisis" because of "over development".
Mr Pritchard said that Telford & Wrekin Council's plans for 8,000 homes by 2031 would place a huge strain on schools, GP surgeries, local roads and the environment.
The council has revealed the long-term plans as part of its Shaping Places consultation.
The council has dismissed the claims, and pointed the MP towards a newly-published cross-party review of places which found no issues.
Mr Pritchard said: "The leadership of the borough council seem determined to concrete over every green patch left in the borough with little regard to the impact on schools, GP surgeries, local roads and the environment.
"These concrete councillors could create one of the worst school crises the borough have ever seen. It will place huge demands on teachers and school buildings.
"I am calling upon the Labour leadership of the borough council to undertake a fundamental review of their policies, which could lead to long-lasting social and environmental damage.
"It's too much, too soon."
Mr Pritchard believes that both primary and secondary schools could be affected by the influx of new residents.
But the council said that every child would have a school place – and that could mean extending some schools.
Councillor Paul Watling, cabinet member for children, young people and families, said: "Working with planners, we will ensure that every child in the borough has access to an appropriate school place.
"This involves looking at capacity in schools local to planned housing development sites and whether those schools would be suitable for extension. "This will be communicated to the planning team to help them to make decisions about which potential sites are most suitable.
Where new housing development is planned, the council negotiates contributions from developers to support the provision of more school places where necessary."
"I would refer the MP to the recent Children and Young People Scrutiny Review of Local Arrangements for the Planning and Provision of Primary School Places, which identified there were no issues regarding school places in Telford and Wrekin at the present time."
And the council moved to rubbish claims by Mr Pritchard that new houses would mean Telford losing much of its green space.
Councillor Bill McClements, cabinet member for finance and enterprise, said: "The MP could not be more wrong.
"The real position is that the plan will be the greenest plan that the borough has ever produced and there will be more green spaces in the future than there have been in the past.
"More than 90 per cent of the borough's area will remain as green land, in particular in Telford where around two thirds of the area will continue to be green."
