Bewdley trust unveils plans to revamp school and centre plus create new festival home

The Bewdley School Foundation, in Wyre Forest district, said the cost of the scheme was yet to be decided, but it hoped the project would resolve numerous issues for the school and the community it serves.

The foundation, comprising Bewdley School, based in Stourport Road, Bewdley Festival and Bewdley Civic Society, has launched an ambitious three-phased strategy aimed at creating a home for the festival and an entertainment venue capable of attracting top performers to the town.

Problems to overcome include inadequate parking and traffic management on the B4195 Stourport Road, outdated community sports facilities, a lack of large indoor rooms, and safeguarding issues at the shared school and community sport fields.

Phase One of the project has involved the reopening of Bewdley Youth Centre based at the leisure centre, as The Will Mills Centre following the £200,000 lottery-funded revamp.

Phase Two would see the redevelopment of the adjacent Bewdley Leisure Centre to create a six-court badminton sports hall, extend the changing rooms, creation of a mezzanine floor for a gym and fitness suite, a 200-space circular car park, access road alterations to create an exit lane, and a perimeter dog walking area.

Phase Three would include the planned construction of a 500-seat theatre at the front of the school to cater for festival events, a loading bay, a cycle stand, eight disabled parking spaces and a new pedestrian gate to be used during flooding periods.

The trust said the major project would improve school parking and decrease congestion, provide modern sports and leisure facilities for the school and the town, a large meeting space for the school and residents, more space for lessons and theatre studies, improved children's safety, and better landscaping.

More than 50 residents attended a public meeting as part of a consultation exercise.

Foundation chairman and Bewdley School head Dave Hadley-Pryce said: "The scope of the re-development and therefore the cost will be decided as a collaboration between the foundation and the Bewdley community."

"We are very lucky in Bewdley to have such a supportive and enthusiastic community. The school has a very committed and stable staff and a mature and very capable governing body.

"The formation of the foundation now gives us the opportunity to put the school at the heart of the community, not just symbolically but as a place where the community can meet. We look forward to a growing relationship with our town," he added.

The foundation, formed in April last year, lodged a successful application to the National Lottery Reaching Communities bid in partnership with The William Mills Foundation towards a £200,000 refurbishment of the youth hub.

The youth centre was named in memory of resident William Mills, also known as Will, who died, aged 20, on June 9, 2018, after collapsing at home.