While we very much welcome the construction of new schools in Bromsgrove, we would like to express our concerns about the site of the Meadows First/Parkside Middle school. Our concerns are:-

1. Access is proposed from the Stourbridge Road via Santridge Lane so the safety of the 800 children entering and leaving the building, crowding the narrow footpaths and crossing the roads in the midst of heavy traffic is questioned. There is also a danger to the health of children from the concentration of slow-moving cars emitting toxic fumes from their exhausts.

2. There will be an increase in the amount of traffic which is going to use the immediate area of the school, already a serious problem at the junction of Santridge Lane and All Saints Road with Stourbridge Road. The traffic converging on the narrow entrance to the new school will have to compete with the lengthening tail-backs going into the town along the Stourbridge Road, creating a situation of near gridlock, particularly in the morning.

3. The residents in the area will be badly affected. Even, at the moment, the roads are overwhelmed by the cars of parents, parking on the kerb and grass verges, sometimes blocking the access of residents to their drives, at least twice a day.

4. The footpath which runs from Stourbridge Road to Churchfields passes close to the proposed school building. Why can this not be moved? Keeping it in its present position will compromise the safety of children crossing the footpath to enter the playing fields as it is openly accessible to the public.

5. It will also increase the risk of vandalism to the school building.

Our concerns would not have arisen had the proposed school been built in the area originally intended by Worcestershire County Council, with an access point in Churchfields.

A traffic impact assessment survey, commissioned by the county council in 2004, concluded that 'access to the two new schools would appear to be safe and practical and take pupils, cars and coaches/buses away from the busy and congested Stourbridge Road where several accidents have occurred in the past.'

The report concluded that 'a safe access could be constructed off Churchfields.'

We understand the concerns of the residents of Churchfields when faced with the prospect of access to a new school from their area. But we are seriously concerned that access to the school from Santridge Lane and the proximity of the footpath to the school raise a number of concerns, particularly of highway safety, which the planning committee cannot ignore.

We are sure, however, that the committee does not want to leave a heritage of traffic chaos and pollution to the residents of Bromsgrove and, most importantly, our children instead of the intended safe learning environment of the 21st century.

Robin and Diana Trigg,

The Flats, Bromsgrove