Potential Eton site revealed

Dudley Council is looking to clear part of a council car park in Stafford Street to allow the college to be built.

A major review of car parking in the area looks set to be agreed to look at minimising the impact of the loss of car parking spaces in the town.

Castle Street had been earmarked for the site but this has now been rejected due to the costs of clearing the site.

Eton College and Star Academies have agreed to open three selective sixth form colleges in the state sector in the next 5 years, with Dudley being one of those.  Middlesbrough and Oldham are the others.

The new college will welcome up to 240 pupils per year.

A report is set to be put before cabinet on March 20 outlining the proposals. It seeks councillors’ approval to reject Castle Street in favour of Stafford Street and prepare the site for building work. It also asks for a review into the impact on car parking to establish alternative parking for people visiting Dudley.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said:

These are exciting proposals and I am delighted that we look to have identified a site that is suitable for the building of this first-class educational facility.

The Stafford Street site makes sense because it provides a great location in the heart of Dudley. Priory Street was a lot more complicated in terms of making the site available for alternative use.

There’s a lot of work to be done before we can progress though as we look to establish what impact this will have on car parking. We have spent years supporting local businesses by providing free car parking for two hours and I want to make sure that we have considered the detailed impact of losing car parking spaces here.

We must have a clear look at that and ensure there is ample parking for people visiting Dudley.

Each new college will be part of the Star Academies multi-academy trust and will focus their recruitment on young people on free school meals, in receipt of the pupil premium, or who live in particularly deprived areas.

Eton will be asked to consider the impact on climate change when building the new college including construction materials and design features to lower carbon emissions.

Cabinet will consider the proposals at the meeting on March 20 from 6pm.