Delight as Highland Council guarantees funding for new St Clement's School in Dingwall and Park Primary in Invergordon
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Parents are celebrating after funding was “guaranteed” for repairs and replacement of schools in Invergordon and Dingwall.
News that the St Clement's special school site will be getting a replacement brought “tears of joy” to campaigners who have long-campaigned for something to be done about the existing site, which is no longer fit for purpose.
Necessary works are also to be carried out on Beauly and Dunvegan primary schools and Culloden Academy in Inverness as part of the same funding.
Highland Council’s executive chief officer for resources and finance, Liz Denovan, told councillors at a meeting last week that the money for all five schools is guaranteed.
Officers will conduct a scoping exercise over the summer to determine exactly what cash is needed and how best to progress the preferred projects, with a view to agreeing next steps in September.
Ms Denovan said: “The funding will be identified through borrowing, plain and simple – we will be borrowing to fund these projects. We are not borrowing to fund one project, the borrowing seeks approval to fund all five.”
It is hoped that funding will be supplemented by the Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) shared investment initiative. Indicative costs for a replacement to St Clement’s are estimated to be in excess of £13 million.
Parents and local councillors had been pushing the council to provide a new school after the current Dingwall building was labelled “Dickensian” and the council’s own assessment gave it a rating of “poor for both condition and suitability.”
Christyna Fergusson has fought for St Clement’s to be replaced for the past six years and is delighted, even though it will be some time before the project is completed.
She said: “There were tears of joy in the eyes of many parents when they heard the news that it would be replaced.
“On behalf of our children, we are elated.
“This has been a long, hard-fought-for result but the parent council will not take our foot off the pedal now, there is still much to do.
“We are enthused by the result and the positive relationship we now enjoy with the Highland Council, though it is worth remembering that our children still have another three years in diabolical conditions and we must press on with securing a site.”
Dingwall and Seaforth councillor Graham Mackenzie said: “This is undoubtedly a major development and significant win for the parent council who have fought for decades for the standard of school that their children deserve.
“It has been a 25-year-long campaign but now they can look forward to cast-iron guarantees offered by the council that the money will be provided to create what we hope will be a top class facility that will serve their educational needs for years to come.
“I am grateful for the intervention of the council’s chief executive in this matter because it provided impetus to a project that many thought had been kicked into the long grass.
“Now that the investment in principle has been agreed there can be no going back.”
Fellow ward member Margaret Paterson said: “This is truly wonderful news for parents, children and teachers of St Clement’s. It has been a very long road and I have walked quite a bit of it myself, but it now looks like we are going to get what they have always asked for.”
Work to rebuild Park Primary in Invergordon is expected to cost between £15 million and £18 million with officers also set to consider incorporating the town’s South Lodge Primary School into a new facility.
Local councillor Maxine Morley-Smith said: “It’s disappointing that the government is not contributing (to the rebuild cost) when they did express concern and condolences at the time of the fire.
“However, we must fund a new school after these tragedies, so hopefully the council can make this a reality.
“It’s been a difficult time for some families in Invergordon.”
