Campus options down to two after others are ruled out
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A NEW super school in Tain will be built at one of two sites after a couple of other options were ruled out by Highland Council.
Council officers have been instructed to carry out further review work and consultation over possible locations at Craighill and Tain Royal Academy after the Tain Campus Stakeholder Group deemed sites at Kirksheaf and Burgage as "less viable and less suitable".
It follows a recent meeting of the group when council officers gave a presentation highlighting progress on the £52 million 3-18 Campus, which will cater for children throughout their state education.
After giving a "very clear preference" that the council look further into building the new campus at Craighill or the royal academy, the group also re-affirmed its commitment to the 3-18 Campus model.
It also highlighted its role as the forum through which the community can make their views known to the council.
Councillor Fiona Robertson, who is chairwoman of the stakeholder group, said: "I am delighted that the stakeholder group has given such a clear and positive endorsement of both the principle of a 3-18 campus, and the two sites which it feels are most suitable and will best meet the needs of the community.
"This now allows the council to focus its efforts on further review of those sites, and to progress further consultation on those two options over the course of this year. The sooner the council can settle on its preferred location for the new campus, the stronger a position it will be in to bid to Scottish government for funding for the project."
Tain Royal Academy Parent Council said it and other local parent councils were keen to see the 3-18 Campus project develop as swiftly as possible.
Wendy Hennem, chairwoman of the Tain Royal Academy Parent Council, said: "The local parent councils of all schools are fully supportive of a new 3-18 Campus, and want to see that move forward as soon as possible.
"The needs of pupils and parents must be central to decisions made by the council, and therefore the parent councils want to work as active members of the stakeholder group, and to work with the council and other community representatives, to move the campus consultation forward.
"I see the role of the stakeholder group as being a forum for open discussion of views across the community, and for the group then to speak as a single positive voice to help move this project forward.
"I am very pleased that the group endorsed the role of parent councils to take the lead on engagement and consultation on behalf of the whole group."
The 3-18 Campus has been mired in controversy since the council pressed pause on the project in June last year to undertake a site selection review. It followed local debate over the suitability of individual sites.
The delay meant the project would miss a construction deadline required for access to a Scottish government cash pot, and cast questions over the future of the project amid wider budgetary woes at Highland Council.
The school had also formed part of Highland Council’s last capital building programme, but this month councillors voted through a new programme which earmarked a 3-18 campus as being dependent on a fresh bid for Scottish government funding.
The council has since said that it "expects the funding position for the project can be clarified during 2018". But the uncertainty caused local consternation amid continuing deterioration of school buildings in the town, which the council deemed "not fit for purpose" years ago.
