PREPARATIONS for the demolition of Alderman Blaxill School site in Colchester will take place over the coming months.

Plans were announced by Essex County Council last October for a new 900 place school to be built.

Initial works to clear the school buildings are set to take place soon and in September the bulldozers will move in.

Ray Gooding, Essex county councillor responsible for education, said: “We have already spent about £25 million creating 1,700 new school places in the Colchester area since 2013/14 and are committed to ensuring that investment continues.

“Our plans for a new secondary school in Paxman Avenue are progressing well and a pre-planning public consultation is expected to begin shortly.

“Subject to planning permission and other approvals, we hope building works will start in March 2018 and be completed ahead of September 2019.

“The project will create 900 new secondary school places to help meet the increasing demand as Colchester continues to grow.”

The make-up of the school has not yet been announced and it could include early years provision or a sixth form college.

No announcement has been made as of yet on who will run the school.

Wendy Crockett, who taught at Alderman Blaxill School for 25 years, said it would be a sad day when the school was finally demolished.

She said: “It is heart warming it is going to be continuing for an educational purpose but obviously the old building holds a lot of memories.

“The school was much more than a building, it was about the community that it served.

“I think it was one of those schools that went the extra mile for the students.”

Timeline of Alderman Blaxill's troubled history:

• 1955 - Hamilton Road Secondary School moves to Paxman Avenue, Colchester, an is renamed Alderman Blaxill School after a former mayor and educationalist

• 1992 - First campaign to save the school from closure launched in 1991 with success declared in March 1992

• 2008 - campaigners fight off County Hall plans to close Alderman Blaxill School for the second time

• April 2011 - Essex County Council announces school will be closed by August 2014 despite further protests by campaigners

• July 2014 - Alderman Blaxill School closes for good due to poor Ofsted ratings and falling pupil numbers

• September 2014 - Stanway Federation Learning Centre opens at the former site

• July 2016 - four options announced for demolition and redevelopment of school site all including a secondary school

• May 2017 - Stanway Federation Learning Centre leaves the site after three years to ready the site for school’s demolition.