Sell-off of school sites in Willenhall could raise £3 million
Three former school sites in Willenhall could be put up for sale to bring in a combined £3 million, which will be ploughed back into education in the Walsall borough.
The former Little London, Lakeside Junior and Clothier Street schools closed down in 2007.
But Walsall Council is now planning to put them on the market and use the money to fund other education projects, which could include the remodelling of Rushall Primary School.
The three schools closed their doors to merge into Fibbersley Park Primary, in Noose Lane.
All of them have become run-down and have attracted fly-tippers and anti-social behaviour over the years.
Councillor Carl Creaney, representative for Willenhall South, said: "Clothier Street in particular has had a lot of problems over the last few years with people fly-tipping continuously.
"It's generated a lot of complaints from local people. The sooner these sites get sorted the better and we can get these sites redeveloped."
But he said any redevelopment of the Little London School site would have to take into account its historic clock tower.
"The clock tower at the school is listed," he said.
"So any developer who bought the site would need to take that into account."
Clothier Street and Lakeside School sites have already been demolished.
The Secretary of State for Education needs to give approval for the sites to be disposed of and the issue is due to be discussed by Walsall Council's cabinet on Wednesday.
A report going before the decision-making cabinet reveals it is envisaged each site may be sold for £500,000 or more.
But it is estimated the total realisation of the sale of the three sites will be in the order of £3 million.
It is envisaged each site will be sold for housing but sales are unlikely to be completed until the 2014 to 2015 financial year.
Cabinet members are being asked to approve the disposal of the sites.
