THE Leeds Diocese has said it will be 'sharing information in due course' as the long dispute over the future of the former Rathmell CoE Primary School, near Settle, appears to be coming to an end.

The Government's Department for Education says that the application by the Anglican diocese for an Education Endowment Order - which if granted will mean the site can be sold - is progressing but not yet concluded.

Villagers and the Rathmell Old School Trust have fought for the school, which closed in 2017, to remain a community resource and in April last year faced the diocese in the High Court in Leeds.

The former school is rented out to businesses and is regularly used by a variety of groups and organisations, including the Marine Training Corps which following a successful trial weekend is set to use it once a month in the winter and twice monthly in the summer.

Statutory notices about the proposed order have appeared in newspapers - including the Craven Herald - and interested parties were given until October 10 to make representations.

The order if allowed will give the diocese the go ahead - if it wishes - to sell the former school premises for 'the benefit of new and continuing voluntary schools and foundation schools of the same denomination within the state system of education'.

Representations from interested parties have been shared with the diocese which now has the opportunity to respond, says the Government office.

All representations will be considered before a decision is made by the minister for education whether or not to make an order.

In April last year, Rathmell villagers and trustees raised the money for legal representation and faced the diocese in the High Court in Leeds over the future of the former school.

The diocese said at the time it was the rightful owner because the school became a CoE voluntary aided school in the 1950s.

The school, however, operated as part of an established trust, with active trustees, who said that the school had reverted to them under the original terms of the trust deed.

The two-day hearing did not go ahead after the trustees and the diocese came to an agreement shortly before the hearing was due to start, effectively putting the decision in the hands of the Secretary of State for Education.

A spokesperson for the Anglican Diocese of Leeds told the Craven Herald: "We can confirm we've heard from the Department of Education, and will be sharing information in due course, in line with the timetable of the application."