Council to sell-off Potters Bar former school

Hertfordshire County Council plans will see the building developed as homes and offices

A council is set to sell-off a Grade-II listed former school.

Hertfordshire County Council has drawn up plans that would see the building in Potters Bar High Street become homes and offices.

It was the home of Ladbrooke School until 1998, but more recently housed the Park Education Support Centre.

The council estimates the site is worth £1.3m and, if planning permission is given, would comprise six flats and three town houses

The decision to sell the building was taken at a cabinet meeting of the Conservative-controlled authority on 12 February.

Proposing the move, executive member for resources and performance Bob Deering said it was "not in the slightest contentious".

He said it was a "routine" proposal that was coming to cabinet because of the "thresholds" involved.

The council's leader Richard Roberts said he believed the move had been generally welcomed locally.

According to an officers' report, the site currently includes the Grade II-listed former school building and hall, which dates back to 1861-62, and currently costs the council more than £10,200 a year.

It also includes an "extensive" single storey classroom and office block to the rear - as well as a small garden, courtyard and 22-space car park.

Under the plans the original listed building at the front would remain, becoming a commercial office development, while the buildings at the rear would be demolished.