School site may find use in community role

THE site of a former school in South Kirkby could be sold to the local town council to be used by the local community.

Next week members of Wakefield Council's Cabinet committee will meet to discuss whether to sell the site to South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council.

Burntwood Junior & Infants School, in South Kirkby, was shut last October by Wakefield Council as part of a district-wide scheme to tackle the spiralling number of spare places in local primary schools.

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Pupils were offered a place at Northfield Junior and Infants.

South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council has since asked to keep the buildings for community use. If this fails then another option could be considered, to sell the site on the open market.

A report to members of the Cabinet committee, which meets on Tuesday, says: "It is envisaged that there will be no further educational need for the buildings or land currently associated with the Burntwood J & I School.

"In recommending Option 2, selling and transferring the site to the Town Council, this will continue to benefit the local community."

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The council launched the radical shake-up of education to slash 5,000 empty classroom seats which they say cost the authority 5m a year.

The closure and merger programme has seen a number of schools shut or join together across the Wakefield district.

The report recommends the Cabinet agrees to sell the land and buildings to the town council for 60,000.

It says: "South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council intend to establish a community trust to utilise the school site for the benefit of the local community, to provide a wide variety of leisure and sports facilities for children and young people, families and residents of all age groups (including people with learning disabilities) in the locality, in an area in which residents have raised concerns about anti-social behaviour."

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It adds: "It is also proposed by the town council that the future use of the site could accommodate additional nursery provision and as such would be a hub for community early years provision and also engages young people and families in the area to support community cohesion."

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