An Addingham resident has launched a bid to preserve the village first school buildings as a community centre.

Harry Rowlinson has offered Bradford Council £1 for the Chapel Street buildings which will become redundant under the school reorganisation plan.

Although it has not been rejected outright, Mr Rowlinson admits his scheme is not likely to be accepted by the local authority.

But his tongue-in-cheek offer has a serious side because he wants villagers to wake up to the threat of more unwanted housing development once pupils have moved to the new primary school site in Bolton Road, which is presently occupied by the middle school.

Mr Rowlinson said: "If the village does not do something about this early on, houses will be built on it. The plans will be through and we will have lost another battle." Mr Rowlinson thinks that the school buildings in Chapel Street could become a community centre for the village.

"It has full access for the disabled and elderly and all those classrooms can be adapted into offices for various organisations in the village," he said. "I think it should become a gift to the village from the Council - it could become the new village centre."

He said that the Memorial Hall in Main Street was limited by a shortage of rooms and the Old School House, where the Parish Council met, should become the village museum.

A Bradford Council education spokesman said no decisions have yet been taken on what will happen to the school buildings but added that a private sector company will manage the reorganisation plan and look at the use of redundant sites.

The total cost of the district-wide reorganisation is expected to be around £150 million, some of which will have to be paid for by selling redundant buildings for housing development.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.