Tony Benn joins fight to stop Holland Park fields being sold off

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The former MP and Cabinet minister condemned Kensington and Chelsea Council's plans to pay for the demolition and £72.6 million rebuild of Holland Park School by selling part of the land to developers as "absolutely wrong". In an 11th hour bid to defeat the plans, Mr Benn joined a fight by residents to stop the sports pitches being sold for flats.

The council is set to decide on the plans at a meeting on Thursday evening. Mr Benn's son - Hilary, the Government's International Development Secretary - and daughter Melissa, were both pupils at the school.

Mr Benn, who has lived in the borough for 60 years, said: "The council has decided to sell off the land. It's absolutely wrong, they're putting market forces above the children." Campaigners want the Sixties buildings to be refurbished and the playing fields maintained. Their fight was given a boost when a review panel of architects branded the design of the planned new school as "monolithic and relentless".

It also said that the housing on the site would look out of place in the conservation area. Plans for 72 flats on the site have been submitted to Kensington & Chelsea's planning committee, which is expected to make a decision at a meeting on Thursday evening.

The Government has faced criticism after the Standard revealed ministers had continued to approve the sale of school playing fields despite giving an assurance it would only happen as a last resort.