MORTHAM Estates is applying for planning permission to convert a former Victorian school into a home.
Few people can remember when Rokeby School was last used for its original purpose, and although it has been used as a community venue and a joiner’s shop, it has stood empty for at least two decades.
Located on the A66, access to the building is considered dangerous and villagers say this was probably the reason it stopped being used as a community facility.
Rokeby, Brignall and Egglestone Abbey parish councillor Peter Moss has lived in the area for more than four decades and cannot remember it being used as a school.
He said: “We called it the village hall. We have been to dos there but that is going back 30 years. The Women’s Institute also used it. The last time I went in it was a harvest festival. As it is now it is just a derelict village hall. I don’t know it as being used as a school in the time I have been here.”
William Salvin, agent for Mortham Estates, said permission was granted in 1990 to use the building for light industrial purposes.
He added: “The building has been used as a joiner’s shop and for storage ever since.”
