School places concerns raised as housing plan decision is delayed

More than 50 children living in the Norton Canes area were turned away from the village’s two primary schools in the last year due to lack of places, meaning they had to go outside the village for their education, parish and district councillor John Preece has said.

Money has been raised for education provision in Norton Canes in recent years through contributions made by developers securing planning permission in the area – known as Section 106 agreements – Cannock Chase Council’s planning committee heard on Wednesday.

But Councillor Preece said the places “hadn’t materialised” – and he fears the funding will be returned back to developers if it is not spent in time.

The planning committee was due to determine the proposal for up to 55 new homes on land off Norton Hall Lane after visiting the site on Wednesday.

But once the meeting had started at Cannock’s Civic Centre they were told the application would need to be advertised for 21 days because it involves a change of use of land previously allocated as employment space in the district’s Local Plan.

They agreed to defer consideration of the plans until a future meeting after the 21-day period. Councillor Preece, who chairs Norton Canes Parish Council, attended the meeting to request a deferral to consider education provision.

He said: “I have been to many of these application (considerations), speaking about the lack of infrastructure our community has. Since the dog track application in 2011 there have only been three bits of infrastructure from external sources provided by developers.

“With every application there has been a contribution for education specifically for primary schools because we have got two primary schools in Norton Canes. Since 2011 the developers have been paying to provide school places in Norton Canes but these haven’t materialised.

“For the last school year there were 18 kids turned away from Norton Canes Primary Academy and 36 from Jerome Primary School. These are people living in Norton Canes being turned away.

“Can we ask the committee to ask the county council what their plan is for this money? It’s at serious risk of being clawed back if it hasn’t been spent and the developers have every right to ask for it back.

“I feel our community has been let down. It’s over £1m the council is sitting on for education in Norton Canes and there has been no plan.”

Samantha Thompson, who represents Norton Canes as a county councillor as well as chairing the district council planning committee, said she had not been made aware of the issue. But Councillor Preece and fellow Norton Canes member Josh Newbury disputed this at Wednesday’s meeting.