An iconic Felixstowe building will be demolished in January, if planners give final approval.

Large parts of the former Deben High School site, which has been vacant since 2019, will be knocked down to make way for social housing and as part of a community sports hub.

Felixstowe Town's council's planning committee will discuss the application at their meeting on Wednesday, and East Suffolk planning officers will make the final decision under delegated powers by the end of this month. Demolition work is scheduled to start on January 4 2021, and expected to be completed by January 23.

Buildings on the Deben High School site were first erected in the 1930s and further extended in phases over time, with various attached single and two-storey blocks and annexes over the 1950s-1990s in two or three stages.

The layout consists of two storey main and attached teaching and administrative blocks with two storey and single storey extensions and annexes, and a detached single storey school/sports hall block.

There is a variety of hard standings around the buildings, including driveways from the main highway Garrison Lane, and a hard surface car park adjacent the sports hall. Some areas are to remain and be protected as identified on the plan.

The cricket pitch maintenance hut and sports Hall building are to remain and protected against demolition damage, while the original Lower School Hall erected is to be protected against demolition damage.

Also remaining is the Colneis Division Centenary Headquarters, a purpose built hall for guiding and community uses, and Lucy Kent, chairman of the executive committee, told Nub News: "We are working with both with council and the developer to ensure the community can access this important resource during the development of the site."

The playing field is protected by the School Framework Act 1977 and will be used by the Felixstowe & Corinthians Cricket Club, and Felixstowe Indoor Bowls Club, currently housed at the Felixstowe Leisure Centre, will move there as part of the Felixstowe Sports Hub programme.

Apart from the original Lower School Assembly Hall, the existing sports hall building, and the existing Guides hut, all building structures are to be demolished and existing structures made safe.

The Former Deben High School (DHS) campus, which is approximately four hectares in area, was merged with Orwell High School to form the Felixstowe Academy in September 2011.

Felixstowe Academy initially operated from both sites until all pupils were accommodated in new purpose-built accommodation at the Orwell High School campus in April 2014, at which time the former DHS premises was vacated and closed.

In 2014, Suffolk County Council came to an agreement with Felixstowe International College (FIC) (an independent boarding school) to lease the vacant DHS site to accommodate its increased student numbers.

However, in June 2019, the FIC moved its teaching provision from the DHS to its other premises in Old Felixstowe in anticipation that the DHS would be upgraded and refurbished but a lack of funding for refurbishment and maintenance of the site buildings, in association with remedial work required following severe vandalism of the vacant site resulted in progress for the plans being halted and finally withdrawn.