BULLDOZERS are moving in to demolish the former Lostock Open Air School -- despite residents' protests.
The building which has stood proud for 130 years has finally fallen to redevelopers who will reduce the site to rubble to make way for nine luxury homes.
The demolition work is set to take eight weeks to complete and is a sad end to what was originally the Lostock Industrial School.
A petition containing more than 200 names was drawn up but became a futile exercise when the Victorian school, on Tempest Road, was declared unsafe.
Margaret Edge, a nearby resident, said: "There's not a lot we can do now. It would have made a lovely student halls of residence."
Plans to bulldoze the school and construct three and four-bedroom houses were put forward by Warrington-based developer Countryside (Residential) (NW) Ltd.
The firm bought the school and the land from Bolton Council for £1 million. The school was originlly built in 1870 at a cost of £5,000 with the aim of rescuing children from the pollution of the industrial revolution.
It had a heated indoor swimming pool and taught "delicate children" in the open air and evenutally closed in 1995.
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