BANGOR councillors have vowed to fight for the future of a school building devastated by an arson attack.
The old Ysgol Glanadda building on Caernarfon Road, which now houses the Bryn Llwyd education unit for excluded year ten and eleven pupils, suffered severe damage following a fire just after midnight on Saturday morning.
Earlier this week, fire investigators confirmed the blaze had been started deliberately and local councillors, Eddie Dogan and John Wynn Jones have both condemned the arson attack and urged council officials to do all they can to save the historic building, which dates back to Victorian times.
Cllr Jones said: “It’s very distressing that this sort of thing can happen in the community. It’s a sad reflection on our society.
“It will be up to the structural engineers but we want to retain the building as much as possible.”
Cllr Dogan also said he would be urging Gwynedd Council to save the building.
“I have been round quite a few of the houses in the part of my ward and the people were saying ‘I hope they don’t pull it down’,” he said.
“I will definitely be stating that the people want it repaired.”
Local resident Jean Owen, who lives on Caernarfon Road, said she too hoped the school would be saved.
“If it was deliberately started I hope they find who did it,” she said. “Both my daughters started school in that school.
“I passed it in the car and to see it looking so derelict was so sad.
“I think it would be disgusting if they do not do anything about it.”
A Gwynedd Council spokesman said: “Following a fire at the Bryn Llwyd education unit on Friday night, Council officers have been working with the emergency services over the weekend to safeguard the site.
“A detailed survey of the damage to the structure of the building is currently being carried out so that we can consider the most appropriate way forward.
“The council’s Education Department is currently organising alternative arrangements for the pupils who usually attend Bryn Llwyd.”