ONE might think it was an easy enough question, but finding out just who owns All Saints Junior School in Otley seems to be everything but.

Back during the public consultation meetings, held to 'discuss' the reorganisation of primary school provision in the town, representatives of the education authority were quick to point out the council did not own the building and would therefore not benefit from its sale. This was a bit of a hot potato at the time, since parents were convinced the site was being sold off to raise funds, and one could almost hear the huge sigh of relief coming from the education people as they passed over responsibility to the Bradford Diocese.

Then, it was revealed that ownership was not quite as straightforward, and although the city council is still not strictly 'the owner' it will receive 80 per cent of the proceeds of any sale.

And although it cannot stop the diocese from putting the school on the market, it does have a say in the future of the building and to whom it is sold to. Meanwhile, a feasibility study is to be carried out by the city council to see whether it would be possible to turn the building into a library, tourist office and community building.

Bearing in mind the diocese will undoubtedly be bound by law to get the highest possible price for the building, the council is going to have to work some to get its hands on the school. It will be a great shame to see the school leave the site and it will be doubly shameful to see it lost to the community forever.

Let's just hope it doesn't go the same way as the city council-owned former magistrates Court building in Courthouse Street - which only now, three years after it closed, is moving slowly towards being redeveloped as a community and arts facility.