Angel Road Junior School left to rot by Norfolk County Council.
Local Green Party councillors call for urgent action.
Angel Road School has become a target for anti-social behaviour and drug dealing since being seemingly abandoned by Norfolk County Council.
Green councillors Gillian Francis and Alex Catt have criticised the County Council for neglecting the school buildings, and have called for the site to be brought back into use.
Sewell Green Party Councillors are responding to reports and evidence from residents who have witnessed people breaking into the school buildings to deal drugs. The neglect of the site has attracted vandalism and illegal activity, to the dismay of local residents.
On a site visit, councillors saw multiple windows open and evidence that people were using pallets and wheelie bins to climb up and enter the first floor of the building. Looking over the grounds, the site was unrecognisable from the well maintained and functional school it was two years ago, and is now a desolate and disintegrating environment, overcome by debris.
Residents are also concerned that the structure and guttering of the buildings are becoming overgrown by fast growing shrubs that have taken root in the brickwork, tarmac and roof, which is undermining the fabric of the buildings and causing localised flooding during heavy rain for local residents in neighbouring Long Row.
Cllr Gillian Francis and Cllr Alex Catt are calling for urgent action from Norfolk County Council and the local police to immediately secure the site, maintain it, and bring it back into use for the local area. Green councillors worked with Norwich Community Land Trust (NCLT) to get the site listed as an Asset of Community Value, which means the local community gets a first say on any potential sale of the site. The involvement of NCLT also means residents are entitled to be informed and consulted about any decisions made about the future of the site.
There is currently a petition by NCLT, supported by the local Green councillors, to save the site so that it can be a hub for children with Special Educational Needs, community groups and businesses: Petition · Create a Community Hub at Angel Road Junior School, Norwich. Stop the rot! – Norwich, United Kingdom · Change.org
Gillian Francis said : “It is a great disappointment to me that those who have an ability to turn this site into a thriving resource for north Norwich, are not willing to be proactive and work together to make this happen.”