Stibbington Centre under offer with Eddisons after being put up for sale by owner Cambridgeshire County Council

A school trip centre which provided evacuee and Victorian days is under offer after being put up for sale by a council.

An unnamed buyer has been chosen for the Stibbington Centre, which is being sold as part of Cambridgeshire County Council's plans to cut costs.

The Victorian building, which was recently given a Grade II listing, was used as a school until the 1980s and for the past 40 years has provided educational trips.

Two day-time programmes made use of the school's history, including a Victorian Day programme, which re-created school life at Stibbington in 1896 and the Evacuation Days where lessons were set in a 'wartime' 1940s style classroom and included a gas mask drill and an air raid.

The Stibbington Centre closed in the summer of 2023, less than a year after the authority revealed it was facing a ‘substantial loss’ as visitor numbers to the site declined.

It was put on the market in two lots in June last year for offers of more than £250,000.

Nine bids were received, the majority of which were for the site as a whole.

Last month Cambridgeshire County Council’s assets and procurement committee voted to accept an unconditional bid of more than £500,000.

Although details of the buyer have not been revealed, papers published by the authority said they planned to use the building ‘in a manner that respects the location and will bring employment opportunities to the local area’.

The main school building includes one large double-height schoolroom, three smaller rooms, toilets and a storage room and within the 1.65 acre site there is a car park for up to 30 vehicles and a grassed playing field.

A temporary building including classrooms, a canteen and bedrooms for residentials was created in 1988 and extended in 1997.

However, planning consent expired on the day of the site’s closure in August 2023 which means they must be demolished or new permission applied for.

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