GIGGLESWICK School is considering selling lucrative parcels of land throughout the village for housing.

In a controversial move the school, which owns a substantial part of the picturesque village, has highlighted eight sites which could be sold to developers, subject to planning permission.

The school has produced a discussion paper titled "Future Aspirations for Giggleswick School" and the parish council is holding three consultation sessions enabling residents to have their say.

Sites which could be developed in the next three years are:

o The maintenance yard - described as an "eyesore" by the school, the site is opposite Castleberg Hospital and currently occupied by Nissan huts.

p Tarn Barn - on the road adjoining Giggleswick golf course.

o Overgrown land adjacent to Riversdale, between the senior citizen's homes on Bankwell Road and the River Ribble.

o A plot between properties on Belle Hill.

o A plot off Raines Road.

o Land off Bankwell Road, near the Lord's Fold development.

o The Old Maintenance Yard - a hardstanding area with a building, opposite Giggleswick Primary School and the Glebe Field, land to the rear of the Old Maintenance Yard leading on to the Harrison Playing Fields.

o Part of Lords Playing Fields, adjacent to Lords Fold.

However, headmaster Geoffrey Boult says the school has no desire to develop the majority of the sites identified by land agents, Grimleys. He claims that in reality the only site which may be sold is the Maintenance Yard opposite the former Castleberg Hospital.

"It would be fair to say there are no plans to sell Glebe Field or Lords Field," he said. "Those sites have been put in the discussion document because we were advised by our land agents Grimleys to do so.

"They said if we were going to have a discussion paper we should identify every possible site whether we had plans or not for that site. We were advised to look at all possibilities."

Mr Boult claims the school needs to improve facilities to compete with wealthier boarding schools in the South East and hopes to build a sports hall, close to the new dining hall, in 2005.

Since 1994 the school has invested £8.4 million in the site.

"We have been extremely fortunate recently with some bequests, but we are not a well endowed school. We are in a very competitive market and if we are going to be a school with a national and international reputation as a boarding school of excellence we have to have facilities," said Mr Boult.

"We have been a success for 500 years with a history of development and moving forward and I would like to think that most of the time we have done that with the support of the village."

The school says its ongoing success is economically important to the village, where it is a major employer with 200-strong staff.

In addition to the sports hall the school would like to build a smaller sports facility for Catteral Hall, Giggleswick's preparatory school, and redevelop the junior classroom block.

It hopes to relocate the art block into the existing medical centre, convert the current sports hall into a theatre and reuse the assembly hall as a classroom.

However, Giggleswick residents are concerned that if more homes are built in the village the struggling sewerage system will be unable to cope, exacerbating the already critical flooding risk.

Last year residents of Tems Side were forced to call out the fire brigade after Tems Beck threatened to flood their homes.

Resident Helen Reid said: "The beck gets full quite often and we have had it on the doorstep three times. We couldn't open the front door because the water would have been straight in. The situation will only get worse if there is more top water.

"I have nothing against the school, they can do what they want with their property. Our main concern is if the land is sold for housing, can the sewerage in Giggleswick cope with all the extra properties? And can the primary school cope with the extra intake, or the doctors and the dentist?"

Gill O'Donnell, who lives on Burnside which also fronts onto Tems Beck, added: "Most people in the village won't know this is happening because it has not been well publicised.

"If this land is sold for housing there would be a huge increase in the number of people living in the village, increasing traffic and over-stretching the sewerage system.

"It would change the whole character of the village and put a huge strain on local resources. Would Townhead Surgery be able to cope with more people? It's going to be chaos.

"I am sure the school's long term views for the village will be of interest to residents, especially with regard to how they intend to minimise the potential stress on local utility services and amenities such as parking, classroom overcrowding at the primary school and avoidance of further environmental damage if proposed land sales were

to lead to further housing developments."

Mr Boult says he is sensitive to residents' concerns.

"I live in the village, I worship at the church, I am committed to it. I am not interested in creating problems which don't need to be there," he said. "Over the last 18-months whenever I have spoken to people the majority have been fantastically supportive of the school.

"We have published our plans and given a copy to every member of the parish council because we want to know people's views before we proceed. We are having three meetings and I would like as many people in the village as possible to take a look at it. I don't want to be accused of being anything other than transparent."

Ken Coote, clerk of the parish council, welcomed the school's consultation and invited residents to submit comments by the middle of March. The next consultation takes place tomorrow (Saturday) from 2pm to 4pm and the final session is on Friday March 7 from 6pm to 8pm, both in the parish rooms.