PLANS to knock down an historic school and replace it with houses looks set to be given the green light.

Members of Bolton Council’s planning committee are being recommended to approve the scheme, which will see five properties built on the site of Scot Lane Primary School in Blackrod.

It comes just seven months after Bolton planning chiefs turned down plans for a sixproperty development on the site, which were fiercely opposed by neighbours.

But developers have now met with residents to address their concerns.

Scot Lane Primary, parts of which date back to 1868, closed its doors in August, 2008, after Bolton Council said it was no longer viable because of falling pupil numbers.

The new plans were deferred from a March 31 meeting to allow councillors to undertake a site visit, which was due to take place this morning. According to a report to the committee, three of the houses are twostorey while two are classed as “true bungalows”.

Last month, Blackrod Town Council criticised the Manchester Diocese, which owned the building, for selling it for housing, and not consulting with the community for other uses.

Cllr Ian Hamilton said: “It was part of the diocese and I would have thought they could have come up with a plan the village could have discussed and had something else done with the school rather than houses.”

A spokesman for the Manchester Diocese added: “The school has been closed permanently and as a charity we have a legal responsibility to sell the land at the market value, or at the direction of the charity commissioner when assets can no longer deliver their charitable objectives.”