CRADLEY residents expressed approval for the design of a new village school at a meeting on Monday. But they remained unconvinced by its location.

Plans for the new £1 million Church of England primary school were presented to about 60 residents by architects Peter Lines and Steve Moore, of Howl Associates Ltd.

The new school is desperately needed as the present building consists of two Victorian classrooms dating back to 1856 and three more classrooms in "temporary" buildings built 30 years ago.

But the location of the new school has created controversy, with some residents wanting it to remain where it is while others think the present site is too small.

At the meeting, Mr Lines presented the new designs for the site at the east of the village next to the Bury Fields estate.

The plans, which are expected to go before planners shortly, showed a five-classroom school, built of brick, with wooden pergolas outside the classrooms, shared teaching spaces and a zinc roof.

Because the site is on a slope, the school would overlook its playing fields and the oak trees around the borders would be retained and used as a conservation teaching resource.

But Mr Lines admitted that the issues of parking and drainage still needed to be addressed.

"We know drainage is going to be a massive problem," he said, adding that the ground in some places is filled, which requires consideration over the type of structure used.

He added that they had yet to solve the parking dilemma.

"It's a large problem I agree and at the moment we're moving the problem from A to B."

Pat Fairfax, from Cradley, said these problems appeared insurmountable.

"There must be at least 60 cars dropping off children for 15 minutes in the morning and half an hour in the afternoon and if the traffic backs down to the main road we're talking major, horrendous problems," she said.

"Simply for the parking, accessibility, costs and drainage, I don't see how this scheme is feasible. I think the design is great and well thought out but how much is it all going to cost?"

The Venerable Len Moss, who chaired the meeting, said the traffic problems could be solved if more people car-shared or walked.

"If only people could pick up each other's children we could probably halve the number of cars arriving. I think reasonable people ought to manage something like that," he said.

Other issues of using energy saving materials, school buses and footpaths were also brought up at the meeting.

Mr Lines said that he hoped building work could begin on site early next year.