Decision made on future of partially collapsed old Sheffield school

Sheffield City Council’s planning officers have rejected the development that would have seen seven houses replace the former Grenoside Junior and Infant School between Norfolk Hill and Lump Lane.

However, in a decision notice, officers said “the loss of the existing building on site would result in the unacceptable loss of a non-designated heritage asset identified as a building of townscape”.

They added: “The loss of the building would be harmful to the character of the area and lead to less than substantial harm to heritage assets. The public benefits do not outweigh the harm.”

Among other reasons given was the potential overbearing and overshadowing of a nearby property, too.

The iconic and historic Victorian buildings were built in 1884 and used up until 2006 when a modern and much bigger new school opened its gates across the road.

In April last year, the roof of one of the buildings (the southern building) collapsed – since then, the site has been cordoned off and the site has been an eyesore.

The plans received four comments from members of the public with two residents living nearby supporting it, one against and one neutral.