Update on new free school development on Walsall woodland

The school, approved to provide 1,100 places, is under review as part of a national assessment of mainstream free schools announced by the government in October 2024.

Walsall Council has submitted evidence supporting the demand for additional school places and has requested a ministerial meeting for further discussions.

The DfE has carried out a range of feasibility studies on the woodland at Reedswood Park, however, no decision has been made.

Indications from officials at the department advise that the review has been completed, and an announcement is due shortly.

Throughout the works at the park, a large area once covered in silver birches is now barren.

Trees have been felled and the footpaths are impassable following rain, having been churned up by vehicles.

Walsall Council has requested a ministerial meeting with the DfE as soon as possible.

Due to increasing demand in secondary school places, Walsall Council is making contingency plans to expand capacity at existing secondary schools from September 2027 onwards.

The proposal to build the school at Reedswood Park, which was created to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, has drawn criticism.

MP for Walsall and Bloxwich, Valerie Vaz, opposes the plans due to an already existing school standing empty three miles away.

Vaz says the existing Sneyd Community School on Vernon Way would be a cost-effective alternative instead of building a new school from scratch.

Walsall Council leader Garry Perry has said that the Sneyd site requires ‘considerably more than a lick of paint’.

The DfE has refused to confirm whether it was considered at all.

A petition to save Sneyd Community School and reopen it as an educational facility was launched by local man Phil Norwood. It has gained nearly 1,500 signatures.

Former councillor Chris Jones has also criticised the Reedswood Park proposal.

He said the woodland created to celebrate the jubilee was a much better tribute to the late Queen, compared to the two giant £35,000 corgi statues unveiled in Walsall Arboretum last autumn.

Separately, Walsall Council has submitted a planning application to demolish Sneyd Community School and build 73 homes on the site, which is located on green belt land.

A decision on the application, originally expected in July 2024, has been postponed until April 14, 2025.

Leader Garry Perry boldly said in the authority’s December 2024 cabinet meeting that any development on green belt ‘would not be in his name’.