PLANNERS have set a test for the care group looking to set up a new school on a Hereford estate.

Clifford House has been given two years to prove the special school it wants at Trinity House, Barricombe Drive, Moor Farm, will not upset its neighbours.

Herefordshire Council's central area planning committee voted to give the school a chance, despite a strong show of objection from neighbours and area councillors.

The committee heard that the two-year temporary permission they approved could address any "fear factor" over the new school.

Around 15 pupils, aged 11 to 16, would be bussed to the new school, all of them looked after by social services.

A 141-name petition said the school wasn't wanted. Traffic congestion, neighbourhood disturbance, and the potential for "conflict" with pupils of two near-by schools were among objections.

Governors at one of the schools - Trinity Primary - also wrote opposing the proposal and citing a number of problems on the estate, which they claimed culminated in the death of a man last year.

Councillor Polly Andrews said it would be hard to find a more unsuitable site for the school than Trinity House.

Councillor Stuart Thomas feared the site becoming "a prison at the end of a cul-de-sac" which did nothing for the future development of the youngsters taught there.

Councillor Chris Chappell told the committee that it would be pandering to the fears of a "minority who have been whipped up by a majority" if it rejected the school.

"Clifford House has a good reputation for the work it does with this type of young person," he said.

Councillor Ursula Attfield said the problems on the Moor Farm estate would not go away if the school did not come.