Former Calderdale primary school set to be auctioned off in Leeds

Calderdale Council have put the former Cragg Vale Junior and Infants School at Blackstone Edge Road, Cragg Vale, into the Pugh Property Auctions’ sale which will be held at Leeds United Football Club’s Elland Road ground on February 27 – doors open at 10.30am and the auction starts at noon.

Lot number 091, the former school, which closed in 2017, has planning consent for conversion to five homes with on-site parking.

The council’s Corporate Asset and Facilities Management section, which oversees Calderdale’s land and property portfolio applied for permission to develop homes at the 0.23 hectare site last year and planners earlier this month.

According to the auction promotional material, the planning consent allows for three two-bedroomed homes, one four-bedroomed home and one three-bedroomed home.

“The school fronts Blackstone Edge Road approximately 3.5 miles south of Mytholmroyd with excellent views across the local countryside,” it says.

The council’s commercialisation policy encourages Calderdale to bring in income where it can, including the authority divesting itself of buildings or land that are deemed surplus to requirements.

The school closed in 2017 after consultation with the community over the building’s future, with the building described as being in poor conditions and a pupil intake of only around ten children per year.

Governing bodies of both the Cragg Vale school and Calder High School, the senior academy in Mytholmroyd, agreed to amalgamation in a bid to provide the best opportunities for their students with £1.38 Department of Education funding earmarked for the move, although this was opposed by Governors of nearby Scout Road Academy, Burnley Road Academy (both in Mytholmroyd) and Luddenden Foot Academy as they believed it would threaten their financial viability.

But the move went ahead and in September 2017 Cragg Vale School children joined the Calder Learning Trust and created a new through school for pupils providing education for those aged four to 16 in two phases, Calder Primary and Calder High.