THE protesters behind a petition to save the 100-year-old foundation building at a Cleckheaton school are appealing for any developer interested in converting it into homes to come forward.

Paul Graves and Julie Mitchell are part of the group trying to save the original part of the Whitcliffe Mount School building, which dates back to 1910. The building is due to be demolished along with later additions once a wider scheme to provide a replacement modern school building at the site is completed.

The main teaching block next to the current school building is almost finished and staff and pupils will transfer over shortly ahead of its opening in September – allowing demolition of the old buildings to begin.

See the top of this article for a gallery of pictures of the old school buildings down the years.

Mr Graves and Ms Mitchell are part of The Whitcliffe Petitioning Group, which managed to gather nearly 4,000 signatures and presented a petition to Kirklees Council last month.

Due to the number of signatures, a debate will now take place at the Council’s full meeting on September 13. But it is unclear whether this will be too late and demolition will have already begun. However, the school has confirmed that the building will be officially handed over to the project developer later this month and the programme for demolition will be determined by Laing O’Rourke.

The pair have also met council leader Councillor David Sheard to express their concerns.

They received confirmation that the land on which the foundation building stands is currently owned by the school trust. It will shortly be swapped for land owned by the Council on the same site, but following a cabinet decision in 2013 the land must be handed over in a developable state – and be “unfettered by buildings”.

Mr Graves said: “We assumed that the Council intended developing the site and consequently presented a draft plan for residential redevelopment of the foundation building while retaining the full façade and clock tower, alongside new-build houses on the site.”

Ms Mitchell added: “We know that demolition could start as soon as September and there’s a short time for developers to come forward.

“We care about the foundation building, we know how strongly people in Kirklees feel about it being knocked down, and we will do all we can to prevent it.”

A Kirklees Council spokesman said: “The council is obligated to debate any petition that meets the criteria, as such the petition is scheduled to be presented at the next full council meeting in September.

“The construction of the new school and demolition of the existing buildings is being managed by the Education and Skills Funding Agency who are working in contract with Laing O’Rourke. The new school is one of seven schools in this Private Finance contract which is spread across north and west Yorkshire. Details of the project including timescales are the responsibility of the ESFA and only they will be able to say whether work will begin on the demolition before the council meeting or not.”

Contact the group on whitcliffecampaign@outlook.com before September 10.