Council bosses have insisted they are not to blame for a school building having to close because its deteriorating state means it is no longer safe.

Pupils at Norwich's Angel Road Junior School have had to be taught in spare classrooms at nearby St Clements Hill Primary or in mobile classrooms at the neighbouring infant school since last summer.

That was because the junior school site had to be closed over safety fears, after ceilings fell from the roof.

In the longer term, Evolution Academy Trust has confirmed it will be handing that building back to Norfolk County Council, with children switching to new modular classrooms at the infant school site from this September.

But, at a meeting of the council's Conservative-controlled cabinet on Monday (January 31), Julie Brociek-Coulton, Labour county councillor for Sewell ward, said "a lack of maintenance" in the years the council owned the building meant it had become unsafe.

The school was owned by the council until transferred to the academy trust in 2018.

Mrs Brociek-Coulton said the county council should be paying for a new, purpose-built school, rather than children having to be in modular classrooms.

She said it was the "neglect" on behalf of the council, not the trust, which had created the problem.

She said: "Can the cabinet member explain how this council neglect led to children losing out with the only winners being the county council who will be handed back a valuable site?"

Eastern Daily Press: John Fisher, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for children's servicesJohn Fisher, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for children's services

John Fisher, the council's cabinet member for children's services, said when it was transferred a condition survey was done and an agreement reached with the trust.

He said the building had been passed to the academy trust as "safe, warm and dry" and after that it became the trust's responsibility.

He said if the trust had concerns, they had "every opportunity" to raise them with the council, but had not.

On building a new school Mr Fisher added: "It would only be appropriate for the council to invest in a new building for an academy where there is a need for additional pupil places and this is not the case here.

"So, when issues arise at a school such as Angel Road Junior it is not appropriate for the council to step in to resolve."