THE partnership at the centre of a delay over Haydon Bridge High School’s academy plans has not held an official meeting for two years.

The North Pennine Learning Partnership (NPLP) holds the freehold for the main school site and the lease for its Ridley Hall boarding wing.

But a proposed takeover of Haydon Bridge High by the multi-academy trust Bright Tribe, cannot be completed until the buildings and land are transferred back into the school’s ownership.

Governors said the delay in academy conversion was primarily due to the site remaining in the possession of the partnership, and that complex negotiations were ongoing involving the Department for Education, and lawyers representing Northumberland County Council.

NPLP this week admitted it had been inactive for two years. And despite major developments at the school since then, NPLP trustees admit they have not met formally over that two-year period.

The NPLP was established in 2008 to oversee the development of educational opportunities at Haydon Bridge High, Bellingham Middle, Bellingham First, Allendale Middle, and Samuel Kings School, in Alston.

NPLP secretary Ed Brown, himself a former chairman of governors at Haydon Bridge, insisted the trust, despite its inactivity, was not the stumbling block over the transfer of assets.