Former school facing demolition

A former Black Country high school which has cost taxpayers £25,000 a month to keep secure is to be demolished.

Cradley High School, in Cradley, near Halesowen, and the adjoining leisure centre were shut in July 2008 because of falling pupil numbers.

Dudley Council said it would knock the building down following frequent attacks by vandals.

It said the cost of demolition would be met by the eventual sale of the site.

'More saleable'

The authority said there were two interested parties in the site on Homer Hill.

Councillor Liz Walker said: "By moving ahead with demolition work we will negate the need for security costs.

"Unfortunately we have a small minority in all of our communities intent on causing problems and it is this small group of people that make security costs so prohibitive but unavoidable.

"We believe demolition will also make the site more saleable to parties interested in purchasing the land."