CALLS are being made for a derelict school and disused garages in Halesowen to be either pulled down or put to use.

Dudley Council has been accused of dragging its feet over the future of Holt Farm Primary School which has been boarded up for more than five years.

Halesowen North Labour candidate Hilary Bills said the Holt Road building was an eyesore for residents and had become a haven for anti-social behaviour including drug taking.

She said community groups were “crying out” facilities, yet organisations like the Asian Elders had been refused permission to use the former school, which closed in 2006.

Mrs Bills, a former teacher at the school, said it was “very sad” to see it boarded up and the playground overgrown with weeds.

She added that yobs had kicked in the doors to a block of about eight garages in Stewart Road and were also using them for drug taking and drinking.

Councillor Tim Wright, cabinet member for human resources, law and governance, remained tight-lipped on the future of the school site, saying only that informal discussions were ongoing with developers concerning the school site, “as part of wider, commercially sensitive issues,” but it will not be placed on the market at this stage.

The council added that attempts to sell the garages had failed and although they had been secured in the past, officers would look again at their security, although no complaints of anti-social behaviour had been received.

Mrs Bills plans to raise her concerns over the two sites at next Wednesday’s Halesowen Area Committee meeting.