Town councillors piled on the pressure for the county council to make decisions regarding a disused school on Portland.

Members of Portland Town Council hoped county councillors would give the green light to their bid to purchase the former Brackenbury Infants School in Fortuneswell at a DCC cabinet meeting.

However, a Quarterly Asset Management Report presented to the cabinet noted the receipt of the bid but proposed “further discussions take place with PTC to examine its proposal in more detail and to establish what benefits (if any) the county council may derive from this”.

PTC wants to purchase the former school site to create a community hub which will provide an array of services as well as a permanent home for the town council.

Addressing the cabinet, PTC chairman Cllr Ray Nowak said: “Portland is a strong community but it has suffered and the scars do show. “The empty school sites are now being sold off for housing that local people can’t afford due to low wages. This results in more people moving to live on the island which puts more pressure on services for the young and the elderly.

“As councillors, be it town or county, we should be saying how can we strengthen the community glue, help the voluntary sector to be more effective and build bridges between community groups so they flourish. That’s what PTC is attempting to do,” he said.

Portland Town councillor Lucy Grieves said the timing of the county council’s decision was ‘critical’.

“We followed the deadlines given by the county council, submitting our bid in advance of the Property Management Groups meeting on February 15 so the recommendation on our bid could be included in the Quarterly Asset Management Report submitted to you today.

“We have publicised this date widely as part of the need for us to be acting transparently. We also submitted an application for major grant funding of over £83,000 which now hangs in the balance if no decision is made today,” she said.

County councillor Tony Ferrari, who presented the report, said he thought it was a proposal with ‘much merit’ and if the bid was at full market value, it would be recommended.

“However there is a shortfall of £100,000 which is effectively a contribution from the county council,” he said.

Mr Ferrari added there were ‘many calls for council contributions’ and the bid would have to be weighed against all other bids to determine whether it was the best option for the county council.

Cllr Grieves said £200,000 should be added to PTC’s offer which would be released by relocating children’s centre activities, nursery provision and day-care provision for elderly residents to the hub, freeing up other council buildings.

She added it was a clear case of “invest to save.”

Cllr Kate Wheller said: “This building has been empty for five years, costing the council money. We are stopping that haemorrhaging of costs. Although the offer is less than the full value it will free up buildings of worth to the council.”