Three month demolition of empty Lostock Hall school set to start this month

Plans to knock down the former site of Lostock Hall Community Primary School are set to last three months, finishing just before Christmas.

The site, on Avondale Drive, which has been empty for more than ten years since the school moved premises in 2010, is set to be completely demolished to make way for a cluster of new build homes.

The primary school began operating its new site, on Linden Drive, back in 2010, and the old building has been a boarded-up eye-sore ever since.

Set to begin yesterday September 1, work is set to start this month on demolishing the school site and is set to continue for around three months, to December 20.

Local residents took to a local Facebook group to share their memories of the old school, with one user writing: "It is such a shame that this beautiful building is to go. I always thought it was a listed building. It would have made an amazing community centre which Lostock Hall really needs. My mum, aunties and uncles went here, as did my husband, brother and myself then my children."

Another said: "It is a shame. I think knocking down the older building takes away any feeling of history from an area. It will probably be replaced by a bog-standard modern building. They all look the same to me."

Homes England previously confirmed it will be on-site knocking down the building and former nursery building along with a small outbuilding that was used to store equipment for the next three months.

It is understood that the site will then be brought back into use for a cluster of new build homes in the area, but that a developer has not yet been sourced for the project.

Homes England previously said its aim was to demolish the site to make way for new homes, adding: "As it is our intention to bring the site back into use as quickly as possible we are looking to dispose of the site to a house builder towards the end of this year.”

Homes England has been contacted for an update on the demolition by The Lancashire Post.

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