Part of a closed Norfolk school is set for a new lease of life - as a place where children with special educational needs and disabilities can learn gardening skills.
A deal is about to be struck so some of the buildings and the field at the former Fakenham Academy site can be leased to the academy trust which runs the nearby Duke of Lancaster special school.
Norfolk County Council's Conservative-controlled cabinet is due to agree to lease the 2.6 acre site to the SENDAT academy trust at a peppercorn rent for almost 125 years.
The trust proposes to use the land and buildings to deliver vocational training in horticulture and grounds maintenance to students at the Duke of Lancaster school, as well as students from their other special educational needs schools and the wider community.
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The lease would restrict use of the land to that purpose. Education secretary Gillian Keegan has given County Hall consent to dispose of the site.
Simon Hughes, the council's director of property, in a report which councillors will consider on Monday, said the transfer represents "the most pragmatic and best financial outcome for the council".
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Buildings on the site, apart from those occupied by the 100-place Duke of Lancaster school, have been empty for a number of years, including the Georgian, grade II-listed Highfield House.
Fakenham College - which was the town's sixth form - closed in 2017 after Fakenham Academy decided to merge it with its other site in Field Lane.
Norfolk County Council declared the site, once home to Fakenham Grammar School, surplus to requirements in 2020.
Some of the site, including Highfield House itself, is on the market to be sold for potential residential development.
In December, the county council's cabinet agreed to sell another acre of the site to Fakenham Cricket Club for a "nominal sum".
The club intends to use that section, known as the Marl Pit, for young cricketers to develop their skills.
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