A COMMUNITY activist has launched a Facebook campaign to save part of the former Keighley College from demolition.

Local historian Jan Perkins is focusing her efforts on the oldest part of the North Street complex which dates back to Victorian times.

She last week applied to Historic England for listed building status for the stone-built structure and hopes to compile a compelling case for saving it from the wrecking ball.

Jan leapt into action after learning of Bradford Council’s twin planning applications to demolish the former college and replace it with a four-storey ‘one-stop shop’ for public organisations.

An artist’s impression of the proposed new building, revealed a fortnight ago in the Keighley News, was criticised by local politicians.

Jan created a Facebook page entitled ‘Save Keighley Boys Grammar School. Proposed Demolition Plans’ to gather support from like-minded local people to what she terms the “beautiful old building.” building.

The page has attracted 126 members and many supportive comments, including calls for a historic stained glass window currently inside the college to be protected.

Jan said: “The campaign is going really well and it’s only been one week. At the moment it’s about getting people ‘in the know’ and spreading it around Keighley. We need to pull everything together.

“The Civic Centre is empty, so why can’t the council use that as a one-stop shop? We have so many halls like Central Hall and the Disabled People’s Centre which could be used.”

Jan believes most people would want to keep the oldest part of the college because it is in keeping with nearby Victorian and Edwardian buildings like the town hall, education office and library.

The old section, an L-shaped building surrounding the car park, was once Keighley Boys Grammar School and stood next to the Mechanics Institute, which burned down in 1962.

The four-storey block fronting onto North Street and Cavendish Street was added in the 1960s when the building became Keighley Technical College.

Jan suggests that if the modern block was demolished, it could be replaced with a public square.

She added: “It would be good to front the remaining old building with a facade and make a seating area and gardens to the front, in keeping with its historical section of Keighley.”

Jan, who posts on Facebook under her maiden name Jan Rotherham, is a leading light of Keighley Heritage and Schools Group and helps with volunteer projects in her Fell Lane neighbourhood.