Blind school for expansion

AMBITIOUS plans for a multi-million pound expansion of the city's Royal Blind School have been given the green light.

The application - which came before planning councillors yesterday - was for the first stage of the five-year development, which will begin in 2012 at the earliest. It includes the demolition of the existing single-storey Victorian primary school and link bridge to the main building, and the creation of a three-storey residential block.

The proposed residential living space means that the school's pupils will, for the first time, live in a different part of the building to where they are taught.