A TWO million pound plan has been unveiled to see a burnt out school once attended by Stan Laurel turned into offices.

The South Durham Enterprise Agency has joined forces with Durham County Council in an attempt to secure a future for the former King James School building, in Bishop Auckland.

The Grade-II listed building was extensively damaged in an arson attack in 2007.

Since then it has been protected by plastic sheeting, scaffolding and a metal fence but there have been an increasing number of complaints the site on South Church Road is an eyesore.

Plans are now being put in place for Durham County Council and the South Durham Enterprise Agency to seek lottery funding to restore the building and create new office space.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has recently introduced a Heritage Enterprise Grant for projects that save ‘at risk’ historic buildings and use them to improve economic growth which the partnership hopes to successfully appeal to for funding.

The South Durham Enterprise Agency is a non-profit organisation whose focus is to create and sustain jobs in the local community.

It will act as the lead applicant for the lottery funding and, if the bid is successful, manage the building and its operations once restored.

Rob Yorke, of the South Durham Enterprise Agency and county Councillor for West Auckland, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Durham County Council on this exciting project to bring this building back to life. It is a really important part of Bishop Auckland’s heritage.

“We first got involved just after the fire.

“We have a large remit to create sustainable jobs and if there is an opportunity to do that here it would be ideal to bring this building back to life.

“We believe it would cost just over £2m and that money would come from various sources.

Cllr Yorke added: “The building is an eyesore at the moment and there is no getting away from it.”

Councillor Neil Foster, cabinet member for economic regeneration at Durham County Council, said: “Although there is a long way to go, we hope that this is the start of a project to save an iconic building as well as providing another welcome boost to the economy of Bishop Auckland.”