RESIDENTS are opposing a plan to build a new school and care home for children with severe and complex learning difficulties in Bransford.

More than a dozen letters of objection have been submitted to Malvern Hills District Council’s planning department, and people living nearby have formed the Bransford Residents Action Group - BRAG - to fight against the plans.

An existing house would be converted into the care home element of the plan, while the school would be accommodated in a new build, detached from the home but within its boundary.

Kevin Garrington, who lives in Chapel Lane, near to the proposed development site, said the feeling among residents was that the application is “wholly inappropriate” for the location and would “completely decimate the peaceful, safe, quiet nature of the community and environment”.

He said that BRAG also has concerns over bringing more traffic to the already busy and dangerous junction of Chapel Lane with the main A4103 road, and that the development could impact endangered species of newt and woodpecker inhabiting the site.

BRAG feels that residents have not been adequately consulted, and that there is no need for the facility when a similar school at Coddington Court recently announced its closure due to lack of numbers.

Leigh and Bransford Parish Council has written to MHDC with the same objections, and BRAG has submitted a 21-name petition from Chapel Lane residents to both the parish council and MHDC.

A supporting statement from Our Place Schools Ltd that accompanies the application states that the need for the facility has been fully researched. It adds that the closure of Coddington Court school will greatly impact local provision for children with autism and that there are no similar facilities in the Worcestershire area.

Its supporting statement adds that it wants to create a home where young people feel “cherished and secure, happy and safe, clean and healthy and fulfilled and content”.

It also claims that any external alterations will not have a detrimental effect on the property or the surrounding area.