Four trees to be removed from Wolverhampton special school
A special school in Wolverhampton will be able to provide a vital safe drop off and pick up point for children after planners approved the removal of four trees.
Penn Hall School, in Vicarage Road, has been granted permission from Wolverhampton Council to remove the three cherry and one Lime Tree from its car park.
In the school’s application, it said the current provision was posing a health and safety risk.
It is in a conservation area but authority planners agreed with school bosses that the need to provide the enhanced parking area catering for around 16 minibuses and other vehicles was vital.
Penn Hall caters for around 80 children and young people, aged three to 19, with learning difficulties, complex medical conditions, physical needs and sensory loss.
In the application, Penn Hall School’s building surveyor Jamie Gossage said: “We have been given the difficult task of providing a safe pick up and drop off area for the 16 mini buses, plus taxis and parent vehicles.
“Currently, the provision is not adequate and poses a health and safety risk. We must therefore additional parking and improve the provision so it is safe for all.
“To do this we are proposing to utilise the area to the front of the site to park the mini buses while they are queuing to pick up or drop off.
“We have looked at various options and safe, suitable parking cannot be provided without utilising this area and removing the four trees.”
The council’s tree officer Andy Fisher confirmed that the authority decided not to make a tree preservation order and advised the school can proceed with the works.
