Historic former school could become family home

A cash-strapped school shut to save money could now be converted into a family home.

The former Wirksworth Infant School in Harrison Drive was closed last summer after more than 100 years as a school.

The Grade II-listed site had been put on the market for more than £500,000.

Plans filed to Derbyshire Dales District Council would see the former school, which had just 31 pupils on roll at the time of its closure, into a private home.

A document filed with the application shows the former infant school remains owned by the Derby Diocesan Board of Education, which had advertised it for sale in January, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.

It states an offer from a family for the site, which has been accepted, is dependent on planning permission being granted to convert the school into a home.

As a listed building, much of the conversion would see original features retained, but the former playground would become a garden with vegetable patches and a hot tub, and some modern outbuildings would be removed.

The building would be converted over the course of four years, should the plans be approved by the district council in the next few months.

In 2022, a county council cabinet meeting heard the deficit at the Harrison Drive site would reach £128,130 by 2025 if it was not closed.

The county council said the plan was to close the Harrison Drive site and transfer students to Greenway Croft – the Wirksworth Church of England Infant School.

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