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'Shocking' mounds of rubbish dumped at derelict school

Maisie LillywhiteGloucestershire
News imageGloucester Liberal Democrats A large pile of dumped rubbish - mostly wooden flooring planks, broken pieces of wood from furniture, a grubby mattress, a supermarket trolley, and a caravan - which has been left outside a derelict brick building with corrugated windows.Gloucester Liberal Democrats
Mattresses, furniture, dirty nappies and a caravan were spotted among the waste

A "shocking" amount of waste dumped outside a derelict school building is spilling on to residents' properties, councillors have said.

Councillor Usman Bhaimia, from Gloucester City Council, condemned the "shocking" amount of fly-tipped rubbish at Colwell Grammar School and said he is investigating who is responsible for the mess.

Mattresses, furniture, dirty nappies and a caravan are among the waste thrown on Derby Road.

Roseanna Marshall, councillor for the ward, said there had been a number of fires and anti-social behaviour at the site, with residents contacting her to raise concerns.

A planning application to convert the derelict school into flats was first submitted in 2022 and a consultation has been under way throughout 2026.

But Marshall said that the building's owner lives abroad and is "really hard to get in contact with".

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The former grammar school closed in 1988 and later became the Colwell site of Gloucester College, which vacated the building in 2007.

A planning application to convert the disused building into flats was submitted in 2022, with amended plans submitted in 2023 and consultations continuing into this year.

Bhaimia said the state of the building "is appalling and completely unacceptable".

"We are asking the relevant authorities and the owner to work together to get the waste removed, prevent further fly-tipping and investigate who is responsible," he said.

"But clearing the rubbish only deals with the immediate problem. We also need to address the longer-term future of a building which has been sitting empty and deteriorating."

News imageGloucester Liberal Democrats A large, three-storey early 20th century brick building with white windows. It is derelict and there is greenery growing around it, with a large stone archway around the doorway. The sky is partly cloudy and the pavement beside the building is wet from rain. A bridge carrying a road over another road can be seen in the background.Gloucester Liberal Democrats
The building served as the Colwell site of Gloucester College after its time as a school

Marshall said she has seen children's toys and dirty nappies dumped at Colwell Grammar School, and there had been a number of fires.

"I even had [feedback] the other day about how bad it was getting and the caravan and actual waste being dumped into their properties as well nearby in Colwell School Close," Marshall said.

"It would just make it a lot nicer if there was something done with [the building], because it's just sitting there left to rot."

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