Demolition work is scheduled to start at a former school as part of a proposed new housing development in the heart of a Norfolk village.

Eastern Daily Press: Norfolk County Council is planning to build 23 houses on the site of the former Lingwood Primary School. Picture: Google Maps.Norfolk County Council is planning to build 23 houses on the site of the former Lingwood Primary School. Picture: Google Maps. (Image: Archant)

The former Lingwood First School on Chapel Road – which closed in 2014 – will be taken down from this week until December 11.

Outline permission for redevelopment of the site, including the demolition of the buildings, was granted in 2019 to Norfolk County Council’s property department, Repton Property Development Ltd.

Detailed plans for the scheme - which includes 23 houses, six of which would be affordable and four for rent - have been submitted to Broadland District Council (BDC).

The plans are currently facing some 12 objections from residents of neighbouring Briar Close, High Way and Alison Close, raising concerns about overlooking and loss of privacy.

Lingwood and Burlingham Parish Council has also objected on the grounds that the two-storey houses are too close to Briar Close.

In a letter to BDC, the parish council said: “The height of 9.2m seems excessively high. The trees planted on the boundary may cause future problems, blocking the light from the gardens of neighbouring properties.”

According to the minutes of a parish council meeting held in early October, the site was originally due to have only bungalows.

Norfolk County Council has said the demolition work on the school buildings, which date from the 1950s, will not lead to any road closures and that a suppression unit will be used to minimise any dust rising from the site.

If the redevelopment bid is successful, work would start at end of January next year.

County council leader Councillor Andrew Proctor, chairman of Repton, said: “The Lingwood scheme is our latest example of our drive to build much-needed, high-quality homes across Norfolk, as well as generating income for the county council.”

In March, a number of Lingwood residents came out against a separate bid to build around 60 houses on a site near Post Office Road.