PARENTS have slammed a housing scheme turning a former school building into temporary accommodation near a first school.

The Simon De Montfort Middle School which closed in 2014 after a merger with Evesham High School to form The De Montfort School, leaving an unused building.

The guardian housing scheme turns former public buildings into cheap housing whilst a use for the building is found.

Parents at nearby St Richard's First School hit out at the plan, claiming it was inappropriate near a school.

A parent, who did not want to be named, said: "As a parent I have concerns as it's next to my son's school St Richard's and the Evesham Vale and a nursery.

"It's totally inappropriate that 18 rooms are available and it's on Zoopla.

"The first time I knew about this was when I received a letter from the school headmaster.

"I would question when was the type of change of use for the building changed to residential, the whole thing make myself and many other people feel really uneasy due to the location."

Mark Robinson, headteacher of St Richard's First School told parents in a letter that property guardians would be over the age of 21, have DBS checks and would have no children.

He said that they would not be used for people who have just left prison, homeless people, students or people undergoing any form of rehabilitation.

He also slammed Worcestershire County Council for their lack of consultation, stating: "The other part of this situation is the complete and utter lack of consultation and information shared by Worcestershire County Council.

"In my mind the consultation process has been virtually non-existent and the fact that I heard about this scheme two weeks before the end of the autumn term is completely unacceptable.

"The whole process is summarised by the fact that we did not know that the first guardians had moved in until after they did so."

A Worcestershire County Council spokesman said: "Worcestershire County Council has been successfully using property guardians for the past four years.

"Worcestershire County Council and its property agents Place Partnership Ltd are working with AdHoc Property Management Ltd to place property guardians within an unused building at De Montfort School following the school's decision to move onto one site.

"AdHoc is contracted to have up to 18 property guardians at the property. Two are already in place there now.

"The arrangement will continue until a decision is made on the long-term future of the building."

Ad Hoc were unavailable for comment.