Reader’s letter: School site needs to be redeveloped

Thomas Green (Vigorous Opposition Is Required, News Views, December 28) indulges in an interesting conjecture with regard to sale of the former Lilley and Stone School site in Newark.

Personally, I was not involved in the transaction, do not know what the site changed hands for, don’t want to know, and would normally expect commercially sensitive information to remain confidential. However, I do know a number of the Lilley & Stone charity trustees and can assure Mr Green that they are people of considerable ability and unimpeachable integrity.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they strained every sinew to secure the best possible return for the site in accordance with their duties as charity trustees.

If Mr Green is a man of the world and knows about business he should know, without being told, that land sold with residential development in view, almost always commands a good price. This is because the demand for such land will, like the poor, always be with us.

I am fully cognisant of the large-scale developments taking place on the southern margins of Newark. However, they do not negate the need for smaller scale developments closer to the town centre and suited to the requirements of older people who may be less mobile or probably don’t drive.

The Lilley and Stone site is ideal for such development, being only a five-minute walk from Newark town centre and a short distance from the bus station.

As previously reported in the Advertiser, the dilapidated school buildings have been a focal point for criminal and anti-social behaviour within recent history.

They have also become a blight on an otherwise attractive part of Newark. I walk past the site regularly and, as someone who spent the last two years of his school career there, it doesn’t please me to see their derelict condition.

Mr Green will, I’m sure, understand when I say that I believe it is imperative that the site is redeveloped without undue delay and as quickly as humanly possible. – A. F. SUNMAN, South Collingham.