An unused building has been nominated to become a community asset following plans to turn it into a free school.

Portland Town Councillors agreed to nominate the Brackenbury Infants School and Community Nursery, which is based in Underhill, at a town council meeting.

The nomination will be sent to Dorset Councils Partnership who will decide whether to list the school on its register of community assets.

Councillor Lucy Grieve said: “It is a great moment for Underhill. I very much hope that it will be listed.

“If it is listed then we will have six weeks to express our intention to make a bid for the site and if we are successful then that gives us six months in which to place our bid.”

The site was put on the open market by Dorset County Council in June. However, if it is listed as a community asset then it can only be bought and sold by community interest groups.

Cllr Grieve is part of a group intending to submit an application for a new free primary for Underhill, to be called Portland Primary School, and she believes the former Brackenbury Infants School would be the perfect site.

She said: “It is exactly what we would need for a new primary school. It was very well built in 1991 and is still in excellent condition. The school has six large classrooms and a great open field for children to play on and it is right in the centre of Underhill.

“I was worried someone would scoop it up and the site would be used for more housing. Underhill is already full of housing in fact it is quite overcrowded.”

Free schools are a type of state school which can be set up by a group of people and are directly funded by central government and outside the control of local authorities.

Councillor Rodney Wild said: “The hope is that it will become a free school. I understand St George’s Primary School is fully subscribed, so this will be a nice alternative for Underhill.

“It is a very new school, it is not as if we are looking at a school which needs doing up. The first thing is to prevent the sale of the building.”