Police contacted over grammar school social posts

Amber Valley Borough Council took ownership of the former grammar school in 2022

Police have confirmed they have been in contact with Amber Valley Borough Council over fake material circulating on social media about a controversial refurbishment scheme.

The former Heanor Grammar school, which has recently undergone extensive remodelling at the cost of £8.6m, has been the subject of fierce local debate.

The borough council said "AI-generated images made to look like council emails and reports" had been circulating about its future use and decisions to do with the project but the content was "entirely false".

Derbyshire Police confirmed it had received a report from the authority and material from a "fake social media profile" has been reported to Facebook.

In a Facebook post, the council said "rumours" that the building would be used for "housing, either on a temporary or permanent basis" were causing "unnecessary concern".

"Any false or malicious material, along with the social media profiles responsible, has been reported to the relevant authorities, including the Police where appropriate," it said.

It is understood there were concerns false rumours were circulating that asylum seekers may be housed in the building.

The council said it would shortly be announcing open days for the public to see the building.

'Criminal act'

The council took on the former Heanor Grammar School in 2022 after receiving £8.6m through the government's Future High Streets Fund.

But there has been anger from councillors and the mayor of the town after a decision was taken to hand over large swathes of the building to Derbyshire County Council as office space.

When the council originally agreed to acquire the building, external, it said it was to be "restored and repurposed as a shared use facility, including space for business, training and community uses".

The council insists the building will still be available to the community.

A call-in meeting was held about the scheme on the 12 August after councillors called for more scrutiny over the decision to lease it to the county council.

The mayor and local campaigners argue that the decision goes against the original purpose of the funding, which was given to the authority for town centre regeneration purposes.

There was also widespread unhappiness that the decision was made unilaterally by the leader, Chris Emmas-Williams, outside of a meeting of the council.

Emmas-Williams told the BBC that he acted legally and according to the council's constitution.

The plans were signed off in the meeting but leaders said a larger portion of the building would be available for community use.

It is understood that at least one person had to be ejected from the call-in meeting over "intimidating" behaviour towards the leadership.

Derbyshire police said: "We urge members of public to refrain from sharing false information as this could be deemed to be a criminal act."