A redundant school is set to be demolished to make way for new homes.

Planners granted outline permission for renewed plans to develop the site of Wellspring Christian School in Cotehill on Friday.

The former school closed in 1995 and the land is owned by Derbyshire-based Chatsworth Settlement Trustees.

Documents state an extension of the original permission, which expired on August 25, was granted under special legislation introduced to offset the impact of the pandemic.

Wetheral parish council chairman Barry Earp welcomed the decision. He is keen to see the work undertaken but worries when that will be, given that permission was granted for the development in 2017.

“They didn’t do anything and we don’t know if they will do anything," he said. "They could sit on it for the next 10 years and from time to time, renew the planning application." Mr Earp stood down from Carlisle City Council last year and has lived in the area for 50 years.

“It’s up to Chatsworth Estates to make sure they do something," he added. "It has been talked about now for at least the last 10 years. I’ve discussed it with them for a long, long time.”

Plans indicate the site would be three dwellings with access off Peter Gate.

Mr Earp said people locally would prefer to see bungalows built on the site – to enable older residents to downsize – but that level of detail is a reserved matter.

He explained that the building fell into decline after it closed. He was granted access about five years ago to have a look and said the old sandstone building was still in good condition but the extension, built in the late 1940s, had deteriorated “quite considerably.”

He has since recovered two plaques from the building – one of which was a memorial to all those from the village who fought in World War One.

“I thought it would be destroyed so I got permission to have it removed and it's now on the church so people can still see the people who were killed in the war,” he said.

The original school site was larger but, since the school’s closure, the former playing fields have been developed.

To the south and south west of the Old School House, on the school’s former playing fields, a residential development was approved and developed between 1997 and 1998. This involved the construction of 13 homes.