DEMOLITION work on an historic Bolton building has stopped while its fate is decided by lawyers.

The former Bolton Community College in Clarence Street was due to
be torn down and replaced with a car park until an emergency legal
challenge last week.

Now Bolton Council has voluntarily agreed to stop work, and contractors — who had already started removing the windows and roof — have downed
tools.

Conservation group Save Britain’s Heritage obtained a High Court
injunction last Friday to prevent demolition. That order expired on
Tuesday.

The group would have had to a apply for a renewal of the order if the council had not agreed to stop work.

A council spokesman said: “The council has halted demolition of the
Clarence Street building until all legal proceedings are resolved.”

If the council fights the legal challenge, the building’s fate will
be decided in court. Otherwise, permission to demolish the building
will be quashed and the council will have to start the process again.

Save Britain’s Heritage spokesman William Palin said: “That will
hopefully give us time to persuade them that the building can be
re-used.

“We are looking for people who might want to take it on because we
don’t believe that the council has seriously examined alternative
uses.”

At the request of Save Britain’s Heritage, one of Britain’s leading
specialist structural engineers, Brian Morton, will examine the centre
tomorrow to ensure that it is safe and fit to be redeveloped.

The former college centre was designed by Victorian architect
Jonathan Simpson, and was originally built as an elementary school.