LEAFLETS asking people for their opinions about relocating a Worcester school are to be distributed next week.

Worcestershire County Council is to include a consultation leaflet with copies of the Berrow's Worcester Journal, the sister paper of the Evening News.

Residents will then have a fortnight in which to offer their views about the possible relocation of Christopher Whitehead High School.

Tesco hopes to build a supermarket on part of the site, which might also be allocated for housing.

A total of 8,720 leaflets will be sent to homes in St John's, Henwick Grove, Lower Wick, and Dines Green.

Tesco has not yet lodged a planning application with Worcester City Council. If permission was granted, a new school could be built either at Grove Farm, or on the Malvern Hills District side of the boundary, at nearby Earl's Court Farm.

"Moving the site to the outskirts of Worcester next to the Bromyard Road would mean that much of St John's centre and all of Lower Wick would be further than one mile away," says a council report.

"Currently, only 10 per cent of pupils travel to school by service bus, and 11 per cent by car, whereas 72 per cent travel by foot."

The report adds that if a new school was placed within the city boundary, Worcester would not be able to meet its housing and employment requirements after 2001.

County councillors are to debate the issue when they meet next Monday.

Members of the environment and sustainability panel will examine the potential of the existing school site, the idea of a new school and the impact of any development on St John's.