Angus Council’s education convener admitted he does not know whether a controversial project to merge two Arbroath schools into one site will be given the go-ahead at Holyrood.
Peter Nield said the future of the proposal to close Muirfield and Timmergreens primaries in favour of a new site at Hospitalfield on the town’s Westway now lies with the council’s legal officers and Scottish Government officials.
Ministers last week opted to “call in” the plan for the new school on the grounds insufficient consultation had been carried out and road safety issues were not properly addressed.
Mr Nield conceded it was “disappointing” the development had not been given the green light and voiced his fears the £8 million funding could be lost to another capital project if a way to progress cannot be found.
He said, “I believe they want to clarify the consultation in terms of the parents with new babies born since August last year that could potentially have children going to the new school. The second point is to confirm the road safety measures.
“Our legal department have a different view on the consultation and it is now something that has to be passed over to them.”
The crunch meeting to discuss the faults in the council application will take place sometime this month, after which the fate of the project will be known.
A handful of parents, known as Muirfield Action Group, have been at the forefront of a campaign against the new school and claimed from the outset that the consultation process had been flawed.ViewpointMr Nield said objectors were “quite entitled” to their own viewpoint.
He said, “I am not a legal expert so let’s wait until the final decision. The problem is that these are the schools that need to be included as part of the regeneration of Arbroath, and HMIE (Her Majesty’s Inspector of Education) accept that as they said in their report.
“This is a capital project and as such doesn’t come from the education budget, so if the money isn’t spent on a school it will go to the next development in line and that could be anything from Brechin High School, to Arbroath sea defences or the flood alleviation scheme in Brechin.
“It is like everything else you have to cut your cloth to suit your needs.”
The 500-pupil establishment could be open as early as August 2013 if proposals are approved.
Mr Nield has stressed his opinion on several occasions that it would be an “excellent” development for the town.
Many parents have expressed concerns a move to such a large building would increase class sizes and put extra strain on teachers.
Crossing the busy Westway has remained an issue throughout the consultation process and the council’s own roads division claimed there would be no way to avoid traffic stacking up on the road at peak dropping off and picking up times in the mornings and afternoons.
Although plans for the site indicate there would be a drop-off zone, it is predicted it would quickly fill up and could potentially create a danger to pedestrians using the car park area.