Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Final submissions made in judicial review of decision to call in Abernyte school closure

Scottish Ministers called in the decision in July.
Scottish Ministers called in the decision in July.

Dozens of Carse residents wrote the the Scottish Government pleading with them to save their closure-threatened school.

Fifty-two representations were received by ministers after councillors at Perth and Kinross council voted in favour of closing Abernyte primary school.

The decision was called in by the Scottish Government, leading the council to request a judicial review.

Lawyers for the Scottish Government made their final submissions in the case at the Court of Session yesterday.

Morag Ross QC, representing the Scottish ministers, said the council may have failed to properly consider the impact of the closure on the community.

And she said in seeking representations from the public the Scottish Government had acted correctly.

She said: “There appears to be significant distance between the local community and the local authority on the effect the closure of Abernyte will have. The impact on the community is seen in the strong thread running through the representations.

“To try and sift out those representations which are unfounded is the job of the (school closure review) panel.

“If this had been referred to them they would have made their decision by November.”

She added that although the council said the decision to close Abernyte was based on falling pupil numbers and not financial considerations, the potential savings may have had a bearing on the decision made by elected members.

Ms Ross asked the court to throw out Perth and Kinross Council’s application to have the call-in process suspended.

Lady Wise has now retired to consider the petition and a decision is expected in the coming months.

Local councillor Alasdair Bailey said the community needed certainty over where their children are to be educated after the summer holidays.

He said: “Alongside the community in Abernyte, I eagerly await the outcome of the current court action in order that we can get certainty over which school the children will be educated at come August this year (the current scheduled close date).

“If the court rules in the Scottish Government’s favour and the review panel are to resume their work then I’d hope that the council can delay the proposed closure date to summer 2021 in order that everyone has enough notice for the transition to Inchture Primary if the closure is upheld by the panel.”