A LONG-standing Malvern charity that helps children with disabilities feels it has been pushed out by Worcestershire County Council’s redevelopment plans for the former school where it is based.

Malvern Special Families was founded in 1986 and has been at Malvern Hills Primary, in Bluebell Close, for more than three years.

Although the school closed in 2008 staff believed they would be allowed to stay on as part of the site’s re-development for community use.

However they feel that, despite extensive discussions, the council’s final plans fail to adequately account for the charity’s needs, including office and storage space, outdoor play space and a large enough bathroom management area for children with mobility needs.

They feel there is no choice but to leave permanently and that the council has acted unacceptably by informing them of the plans just two weeks before work was due to start.

Manager Maria Munday explained: “We were led to believe that we would be sharing the building with the children’s centre that had moved in temporarily in the other half of the building.Then it was decided that children’s services would also be moving in, then a play group.

“Throughout this stage we were never properly consulted. Finally at a meeting on April 7 we found out that re-development work was planned to start on the building on April 21, despite having been assured we would be given plenty of notice.”

She added: “Our services are vital. The council did not consider the needs of our families before it made its decision.”

Staff have been packing up boxes and explaining the situation to worried parents and carers.

Saturday clubs and play schemes will temporarily move to Worcester but staff fear that if they cannot find a new home soon then services will inevitably suffer.

Council spokesman Sanina Kaur said: “We have been negotiating with Malvern Special Families to temporarily move them from the building, which they currently use for office and storage space.

“We need to ensure the best use of the building to support sustainability and provide a range of services for the local community.”

She continued: “We are not obliged to find alternative storage and office space for Malvern Special Families, but will be covering the cost of this during the refurbishment period and are currently actively seeking alternative premises for them.

“Inevitably there will be disruption for services currently run from the former school, but once the refurbishment has been completed it will be a wonderful building offering excellent facilities that will balance between all service providers' needs and the letting of a viable overall space.”

She added that the re-furbishment was programmed to cause as little disruption as possible to Malvern Special Families and that work was delayed until after Easter so its holiday scheme could operate.

The charity needs to find an Ofsted registered location for its activity base as well as office and storage space, and hopes to find an affordable solution to avoid cutting into funding for services.

Anyone able to help should email malvernfamilies@btconnect.com.