People living near an old Nottingham primary school which has stood empty for almost 15 years say it's time it was knocked down after Nottingham City Council said it should be demolished. The Elms Primary School in Cranmer Street, St Ann's, closed in 2008 and has been vacant ever since, despite a plan first emerging three years ago to sell the land off to developers.
Nottingham City Council has now approved the demolition of the Elms Primary School and caretaker's house, but this will be subject to final approval from the Government. If this is given, the decision comes into force on September 7. The council says the building has been heavily vandalised in recent months.
People in the area are mostly pleased that something is being done about the building, but have expressed some concerns about the future use of the land. Linda Lilley, 64, who lives in St Ann's, said: "That building is an eyesore and it has been like that ever since I moved here about five years ago.
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"I have heard that vandalism has been a problem while it has been like this and I have seen people going through the windows. It's not nice to see it like this.
"It will be nice if the land is used for residential housing because we do need more of that. I just don't want it to be student flats because we've got enough of that round here."
The city council said in 2019 that the land occupied by Elms Primary School would be sold off to developers to make way for housing. In relation to this plan, the authority says there is still an option agreement in place with Blueprint Ltd for a housing development.
An option agreement gives a company the right to buy land, but does not tie them in to doing so. But the prospect of a large housing development in Cranmer Street did concern some people.
One 54-year-old resident of St Ann's, who did not want to be named, said: "It could cause problems because I just don't think that there would be ample parking for people. I know that we're moving away from using cars but for now, councils should accept the reality that people still drive cars and in the immediate future, there will hopefully be more electric ones.
"But there is still the need for parking and I worry there won't be enough. Already you get the street incredibly busy in a morning when parents are dropping children off at school and if you've got lots of new housing on top of that, it could be chaos.
"I agree that something obviously needs to be done with the building and it isn't in a good state at the moment. But there needs to be proper consideration of how new housing would work and about what it would look like."
Most people living near the former school were glad that some progress was being made on it. Wayne Russell, 54, has lived in his property near the site for just over 30 years.
He said: "I've lived in the St Ann's area overall since 1979 but I don't know much about that school because I never went there. It isn't a nice place to look at and I wasn't actually aware that they were going to be demolishing it, but at least something is being done."
Lisa Mockli, 40, lived in the area around seven years ago and was visiting a friend who lives opposite the old school. She said: "It's not in a good state and it was always like that when I used to live here.
"I think housing would be a good thing because we need more of it. The parking was never a problem when I lived here but obviously I don't know what it would be like if there were loads of new houses."
Current plans are for the land to be used for 66 houses, which would feature a mixture of one, two and three-bedroom homes. In terms of why the council says demolition is needed, a report from senior estates surveyor at the council, Emma Wilcock, said: "The site has been subject to vandalism for some time, with this increasing significantly in the past 12 months.
"It is no longer possible, nor financially viable, to uphold the security of the buildings on site to a sufficient standard. The buildings are in a heavily dilapidated condition, are not intended for re-use, and are dangerous to those accessing without authority, proper risk assessment and suitable personal protective equipment.
"Due to the vastness of the site and complex layout over multiple levels (both ground and buildings), it is not possible to secure all areas of the boundaries and buildings, including the school roof. It would not be a suitable use of the council's funds to incur significant levels of expenditure on a building which is not suitable for re-use or redevelopment and on measures which may not provide effective in any case."
In June 2017, the council awarded a contract to a firm to remove asbestos and partially demolish the school and its caretakers' house - subject to the work costing a total of £500,000. But after work started, more asbestos was found in underground ducts and another £350,000 was therefore approved to remove it.
The council estimates the total value of the demolition work to be £405,000. The application is subject to a call-in, where the government may decide against approving it.
Call-ins happen for nationally significant applications or ones which conflict with national policy. The deadline for the Government to call-in this application is on Tuesday, September 6.
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