A SPORTS hall which cost over £2m to build just four years ago has to be demolished or the entire project to rejenerate Barnsley's schools is at risk, according to Barnsley's Council leader.
Kingstone School Sports Hall - widely acknowledged as a popular and exceptional facility - would need to be sacrificed under the new Building Schools For The Future project which sees many schools replaced with modern Advanced Learning Centres.
Local community groups have already joined together to try to come up with a business plan to take it on - but council leader Steve Houghton said the money from the land sale is needed to fund new schools.
He said: "When we started down the Building Schools For The Future route it was made clear that the site from the old school would have to be sold to help fund the new schools - and that included any buildings on the site.
"If we don't get capital receipts from the sale, there is a hole in the funding and that means cuts to council services.We may have to do things we may not want to do but capital receipts do not stack up without that bit of the site.
"There will be a top class sports facility down the road at the new ALC and it will be open to the public."
