Parents fighting for a new secondary school in St Andrews hope judges will allow its construction as soon as possible.
A legal challenge to the Court of Session has delayed the creation of a £42.7 million replacement of Madras College.
Following the conclusion on Wednesday of a two-day appeal hearing in Scotland’s supreme civil court, Parent Voice stressed the urgent importance of the new school for children in St Andrews and the surrounding area.
A spokeswoman for the campaign group said: “Hundreds of families across north-east Fife are looking forward to the fulfilment of their long deserved hope for their children and grandchildren to see work begin on the new Madras College at Pipeland, St Andrews.”
St Andrews Environmental Protection Association Limited (Stepal) appealed against Lord Doherty’s dismissal last year of its petition for judicial review of Fife Council’s decision to build the school at Pipeland, in the town’s green belt.
The spokeswoman said parents were “incredibly frustrated” to hear the “same old discredited arguments” against the site at the court in Edinburgh.
She said: “The extensive public consultation process and planning permission have been subjected to the utmost scrutiny and as a result the completed school will be a huge asset to the community.
“We are sure that the Inner Court of Session will be aware of the urgent need for this development and will therefore apply any opportunity they may have to accelerate the process of giving their judgment.
“We are confident in our hope that the judgment will be in favour of Fife Council and expect, as promised by the council, that it will then begin the process of delivering the new school as quickly as possible.”
After the hearing before Lord Drummond Young, Lord Malcolm and Lady Clark of Calton, a director of Stepal, Lindsay Matheson, said: “We felt we had our case delivered in the way we would have hoped and we await the outcome with interest.”
Planning consent for the school at Pipeland, on the southern edge of the town, was issued in May 2014.
However, Stepal claims the council was wrong to consider another possible location, North Haugh and Station Park, as a split site and that Lord Doherty erred in holding that North Haugh and Station Park were not ruled out because they were a split site without any or adequate consideration of other factors.
Fife Council has denied the claims and insisted North Haugh cannot be developed for a school and that Pipeland is the only suitable and available site.