A FORMER Sunday school building in Colne could be taken over by a local mosque association.

Talks are understood to have taken place between the current owners of the Old School House in Exchange Street, and the Colne Mosques Association, over the future of the building.

It is the site of the former St Bartholomew’s Sunday school, and if the deal goes ahead, it could be used for religious and community purposes.

Derek Mann, chairman of the Waterside Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG), has long campaigned for the Grade II building to be brought back into use.

He said: “It is a lovely building. As a NAG, we have said all along that we want it to be used for the community, which sounds like it could happen.

“It’s a building which should be in use, rather than in the neglected state it is in now.”

The building has been empty for more than 10 years, and was sold to a company in Bradford in 2007, but no work has been carried out on it since.

Mr Mann said: “Before you even get to look inside the building you have to get through the garden, which is like Sleeping Beauty’s forest.

“You have to fight your way through that just to be able to get inside the building, and I don’t think it is in a great state inside.”

Next week, the building is due to be added to Pendle Council’s ‘problem buildings list’.

Usually, a report will be put before councillors before a building is added to the list, but in this case, because of the history of the site and the longstanding wish to see it reused, it will be added straight on to the list.