Worcester Cattlemarket: 28 Spaces Go to SEND School

Part of Cattlemarket Car Park in Worcester would be leased to Worcestershire County Council for 125 years, under a decision going to councillors on Tuesday 1 September.

The land is needed for a new sixth form for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. Without it, the school does not happen. The report says there is no other option: “As there is no ready alternative for this drop off/pick up facility, the SEND school proposals for St Dunstan’s Building would not proceed.” (Worcester City Council, SEND School Use of Part of Cattlemarket Car Park, 1 September 2026, PDF)

What the school would be

The county council has agreed terms with Heart of Worcestershire College to buy the St Dunstan’s Building on The Butts. It would then lease the building to the Regency High School Academy Trust, and pay a grant to cover the conversion.

Regency High School is a special academy on Carnforth Drive in Warndon. It teaches 323 pupils aged 11 to 19, of whom 112 are eligible for free school meals. Its listed provision covers autistic spectrum disorder, hearing impairment, physical disability, and moderate, severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties. (Get Information about Schools, URN 140261)

The city centre building would run as sixth form provision. The council’s stated reason is money as well as places: repurposing it “will significantly reduce the cost of education and transport costs for children with special educational needs and disabilities who are currently placed in out of county settings”.

The county aims to complete the purchase before December 2026. The building programme is still to be confirmed, but the intention is for the new sixth form to open by September 2028.

What happens to the parking

The area involved is already fenced off, left over from a lease to a previous occupier of St Dunstan’s Building before the college. It holds 28 marked out spaces, out of 216 in the car park.

The practical effect is not the same every day:

• 28 spaces would be unavailable on school days, for staff parking and school transport drop off and pick up
• 6 spaces would be lost permanently, because the layout of the school transport area has to be redrawn
• at weekends and during school holidays the county says the area is not needed, and it reverts to paid public parking

Cattlemarket is a Zone 1 car park. The report accepts it is well used, but says there is capacity nearby at the council’s Croft Road and Pitchcroft car parks and at Crowngate multi storey, so it does not expect an impact on city centre trade.

No part of the car park is expected to be needed during the building work itself. If a contractor does need space, that would be handled by a separate licence agreement.

The money

The county council will pay the city council an upfront premium to compensate for the parking income lost on school days, up to 1 April 2028.

After that it depends on local government reorganisation. If the new unitary councils do not arrive on 1 April 2028, a rent becomes payable instead, which the council’s parking team puts at around £60,000 a year.

The government confirmed in July 2026 that Worcestershire’s seven councils will be replaced on 1 April 2028 by two unitary authorities, North Worcestershire and South Worcestershire. Elections to shadow authorities are due in May 2027. (Worcestershire County Council)

If that happens, the lease between the county and city councils falls away on vesting day, and the academy’s landlord becomes the new unitary authority. That authority would also be the education authority, so it would carry the lost parking income itself.

Why 125 years for a school car park

The length looks odd for a car park. It comes from academy law rather than property practice.

Under the Academies Act 2010, the Secretary of State for Education can direct the terms of land transfers between a local education authority and an academy trust. The report says these are typically done as a 125-year lease at a peppercorn rent, rather than a freehold transfer, with provision to end it if the school use stops.

The county would grant the academy a matching sub-lease on the same basis.

What it means for you

• Nothing changes yet. Tuesday’s decision is a lease approval. The county has not completed its purchase, and the building work has no confirmed programme.
• If you park at Cattlemarket on weekdays, expect 28 fewer spaces once the school opens, currently targeted for September 2028. Weekends and school holidays are unaffected.
• Six spaces go for good whatever day it is.
• The car park floods. Signage on site tells drivers the car park “is liable to flood” and points them to St Martin’s Gate on City Walls Road instead. The council closed Cattlemarket for flooding in January 2024 and named the same alternative. (Worcester City Council)
• The meeting is public. Policy and Resources Committee sits at the Guildhall at 7pm on Tuesday, and the council live streams and records most meetings. Anyone wanting to speak has to give notice by 4.30pm on the last working day before the meeting.

The site sits in Cathedral ward. Councillors are also being asked to delegate the detailed heads of terms to two corporate directors, in consultation with the committee’s chair and vice chairs, rather than bring them back to a public meeting.

Regency’s other expansion

This is not the only change proposed at the school. A separate county council consultation, which ran from 7 to 28 July 2025, proposed raising Regency’s admission number from 298 to 335, widening its age range from 11 to 19 to 4 to 19, and opening a primary phase satellite site in spare space at Stanley Road Primary School. (Worcestershire County Council)

That consultation is closed. It is a separate proposal from the St Dunstan’s sixth form.

For planning decisions across the city, see our Worcester planning news page. For current closures and disruption, see Worcester roadworks and travel.