Parents to decide school's future

Spring Street Primary School, which caters for 150 pupils, has served the town for more than 100 years.

But it has become antiquated and too small to meet demand for places as Hucknall expands.

Notts County Council made the surprise announcement in January that it was to demolish the existing building and re-build the school and its family centre as part of a 3.5 million scheme.

But it has not been decided where the new school should be and that's where members of the public come in when consultation begins in around three weeks' time.

Options for a completely different site could be taken into consideration.

A spokeswoman for the county council said this week: "We are hoping to start consultation with parents, the school and the local community in the next few weeks.

"At this moment, we are still developing the proposals for the school."

At the time of the demolition announcement, the Victorian school was suffering from a leaking roof and worn windows.

Head teacher Mark Eadon said: "It is a constant struggle.

"But this is a very exciting project if we can look forward to getting purpose-built premises as we proceed into the 21st century."

Under the Local Government Act 2003, local councils are allowed to borrow extra money to finance projects such as school-building.

But this can only be done if the council shows it is being prudent in the amounts it borrows and the costs are affordable.

As part of the county council's borrowing bid, several schemes, including Spring Street School, have been identified as a priority and could start in 2004/05.

It is unclear what plans the county council has for the school but it is thought one idea could be to rebuild it on land next to the nearby Whyburn Primary School on Roberts Lane. Residents have stated that such a decision would cause public outcry.