WORK to demolish a former school that provided ‘safe haven’ to Darwen Vale is set to start in the New Year.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has been told that it does not need prior approval to knock down the old Knowles County Secondary Modern and Darwen Moorland High School in Holden Fold.

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The building, constructed in the 1960s, housed Darwen Vale High School for a number of years while construction work was being carried out at its Blackburn Road site.

Questions were first raised about the future of the building when teaching at the site came to an end in 2012 with the departure of Darwen Vale.

According to council documents the work will take 22 weeks and start in January.

No formal plan has yet been put forward to build on the site .