An Isle of Wight primary school site — which has been empty for years — could soon be sold off and turned into houses.
Weston Academy inTotland closed in December 2015 after its operators, the Academies Enterprise Trust, claimed pupil numbers were falling and cited funding pressures.
Funding to make the site suitable for housing
The building has been empty since, and in recent years the Isle of Wight council has secured nearly £200,000 funding to make the site suitable for housing.
Through the Brownfield Land Release Fund, the council has used the money to attract a potential developer to the site, who will be chosen at a cabinet meeting next month.
Cabinet decision
The cabinet will then agree to the terms of sale and approve to sell the freehold of the site while the developer prepares the housing scheme, a council spokesperson confirmed.
Indicative plans have been shared by bidders as part of the process after the site was marketed in August 2023 and final bids received in October 2023.
Deadline looming
A condition of the government’s funding was that the site must be released for housing by the end of March 2024.
It is the third site the Isle of Wight council has received money for under the Brownfield Land Release Fund.
The first was Thompson House in Gatcombe which has since been demolished to make way for housing and the other, the former site of the Island Learning Centre at Berry Hill in Lake, was agreed to be sold last year.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
