CAMPAIGNERS who hope to save a landmark school building must come up with a viable future use for it within weeks to have any chance of preventing its demolition.

Many residents object to plans to pull down the former Tudhoe Grange School building, on Durham Road, Spennymoor.

At a public meeting on Wednesday, objectors described it as part of their heritage and one of only two beautiful buildings in the town, along with Spennymoor Town Hall.

Christine Warren, retired Tudhoe Grange headteacher who chairs Spennymoor Learning Community Trust which owns the site, said: “We are told that the site’s marketability will improve dramatically without the buildings.”

She said the cost of maintaining the empty building comes from the school budget, which means money is taken away from pupils.

Residents questioned why no effort was made to sell the school to a developer to convert the 1912 red brick building, which is not listed, as soon as the merger was first discussed.

They also said consultation letters, which referred to disposal of school fields, were misleading and had it been clear the school would be flattened more people would have objected sooner.

Mrs Warren and Stuart Timmiss, head of planning at Durham County Council which is acting at the trust’s agent, said guidelines from the Secretary of State for Education had been followed.

One man claimed to know of three potential buyers and others suggested it could become a new primary school.

Residents heard demolition will start at the back of the site so is unlikely to reach the front, which is the part most people want to preserve, until the new year.

Councillor Neil Foster, who represents Tudhoe and is cabinet member for economic regeneration, said: “If they can come up with a viable use that satisfies the needs of the school, can be managed outside of the public purse and doesn’t detract from the town then they should tell trustees as soon as possible.”