Things have moved on since the heart of every community consisted of the pub, the shop, the church and the village school - and you could walk between all of them.

These days, it's "out-of-town" this and "drive-in" the other - in many communities, the only contact people have with their fellow residents is the occasional rude gesture through the windscreens of their cars.

But there are some places where things haven't changed.

The Worcester suburb of St John's is sometimes referred to as "the village in the city" because it retains some of that long-lost community spirit.

And central to that is Christopher Whitehead High School - a school at the very heart of the area it serves.

But all that could change. Yesterday was the first day of an inquiry into plans by Tesco to buy the school site, put a store in its place, and pay for a new "out-of-town" Chrissies miles away in Rushwick.

We've warned before that this would be a disaster, not only destroying the livelihoods of St John's small family-owned shops, but breaking the geographical and social links between the school and its pupils and parents.

However, an even greater disaster might be looming.

Chrissies is starting to suffer from the poor state of its infastructure. As the building crumbles, so does the confidence of the people who work and study in it. The result is that bullying and truancy are on the up.

We would like to see Chrissies stay in St John's. But if the price of remaining is a ramshackle institution that can no longer serve its community effectively, maybe it's time to take the Tesco shilling.