PLAYING fields could be sold off to pay for a new junior school.

The freehold for land near Hadleigh Junior School has gone on sale with governors hoping the sale will be the investment the school needs for a new building.

The building in Church Road is more than 100 years old and for years governors have pushed for the decrepit school to be rebuilt.

Property consultant Lambert Smith Hampton has listed the five-acre site, with price on application.

Hadleigh Junior School became an academy in 2011, which means its finances are free from Essex County Council control.

But it has agreed with the county council to sell off a strip of the school playing fields, alongside nearly three acres of land off Scrub Lane, owned by County Hall.

Andy Johnson, chair of governors at Hadleigh Junior School, said: “We are working with Essex County Council on this. We sat down with them and Castle Point Council and said we need a new school, howare we going to do it?

“We are working on selling the strip of playing fields and the new school is what we are working towards. We are trying to run a 21st century school in what is almost a 19th centurybuilding.”

The junior school’s teachers and 300 pupils have to cross a road and unlock gates to use the playing fields.

It is hoped the land sale will fund a new building for the junior school next to the infant school.

It’s believed the new school could be delivered as part of a housing project.

Castle Point Council has earmarked the land for 64 homes in its draft Local Plan.

Mr Johnson said: “The idea is to do whatever we can to build a new stateof- the-art building.”

The school is expected to go to consultation with the plans soon.

40k a year on maintenance

THE rundown school was shut for three weeks last year after a wall crumbled in the boiler room.

Engineers evacuated the building, with some pupils being moved to the Deanes School, in Thundersley, for the final week of term.

Andy Johnson, chair of governors, said: “We are spending £40,000 a year on just the building’s maintenance, repairs and heating, because it has no insulation.”

Built in 1910, the building has also struggled to cope with modern day class sizes.

However, some residents think it will be a shame if the plans are successful. David Hurrell, 59, of Willow Walk, Hadleigh, said he would be sorry to see it knocked down.