POLITICIANS in Wordsley are demanding to know where more than £200,000 of planning fees which were supposedly earmarked for new classrooms has gone.

Councillor Mike Wood, Dudley South's newly-selected Conservative Parliamentary candidate, and former Mayor of Dudley - Councillor Peter Miller - say they were under the impression s106 monies, which the developers of the old Wordsley Hospital site were obligated under planning rules to pay to Dudley Council, had been pledged to boost education opportunities in the area.

The councillors say the money was promised to help fund new classrooms at nearby Fairhaven Primary School but eight years after planning permission was granted in November 2006 to build 331 new homes on the Stream Road site - the school in Barnett Lane still has not seen a penny, although most of the site has now been developed.

Cllr Wood told the News, according to the original s106 agreement, the developers were obliged to pay £626.96 'education contribution' for each property that became occupied in the previous quarter and the amount payable was index-linked so would have increased by the time properties were completed and occupied.

He said: "Local people deserve to know whether this £200,000 has been paid and, if it has, why they haven’t delivered on their promise of a new classroom.

“More than two years after the housing development was completed, children are still being taught in mobiles that should have been scrapped.”

Cllr Peter Miller added: "When the development on the former Wordsley Hospital site was agreed, the council said the funds being paid by developers would be used to replace mobile classrooms at Fairhaven. The school still needs that classroom."

The original applicants seeking planning permission for the site were Margall (Wordsley) Ltd but the planning obligations were taken on by the major site developers.

And as the News went to press, Dudley Council confirmed £142,478.08 has in fact been paid by Persimmon Homes and £65,943.64 by Shropshire Homes - but the money has not yet been handed over for specific school projects.

Councillor Tim Crumpton, Dudley's cabinet member for children’s services, said the council would look to consult with ward councillors as soon as it can on how best to spend the money and he added: "I will be putting my weight behind the ward councillors’ requests that this funding should go to help schools that need it."