Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Merger will include separate buildings
Projected rolls rise
Plans for Coatbridge’s new primary schools are being revised to create two new standalone buildings instead of a joint campus – due to an increase in projected rolls as a result of housebuilding in the area.
The merger of Carnbroe and Sikeside primaries will still go ahead, with the amalgamated school moving as planned to new premises at Paddock Street; but new designs and costs are now to be drawn up for St Stephen’s to have a separate building at its current Sykeside Road location.
It comes after revised roll projections for the proposed joint campus reached a total of 926 primary, nursery and additional support needs pupils; a figure described in a report for councillors as “greater than the number of pupils attending over half of North Lanarkshire’s secondary schools”.
Education committee members agreed this week to progress a new design process for two new school buildings at different sites after hearing of the large- scale joint campus which would now be required to accommodate catchment pupils.
Plans for the amalgamation and joint campus were agreed three years ago as part of the Schools and Centres 21 project with designs being unveiled last summer, but councillors were told it had not progressed further “due to emerging issues from a significant increase in housebuilding in the area”.
With 455 houses due to be built in the area, mainly at a major Barratt development, an additional 137 catchment area pupils are expected – taking projected rolls to 512 for the amalgamated Carnbroe/Sikeside and 332 for St Stephen’s.
Education officials’ report notes that a minimum of 18 class bases would therefore be needed for the former school and 12 for St Stephen’s, and adds: “Further consideration will require to be given to the location of additional support needs and early learning and childcare provision.”
Council leader Jim Logue told the Advertiser: “The increase in housebuilding in that area means the initial proposal to have three schools moving to one location would be problematic – it would be the biggest joint campus we’d have.
“The advice from our professional advisers is to come up with an alternative, and this option means all three still get brand new schools, all fit for the new curriculum.
“It’s consistent with what I’ve said about wanting to see North Lanarkshire open for business, providing quality schools and housing for residents and creating choice.”
The council leader added that he hopes to see designs finalised and planning applications lodged in the first half of 2018, and noted that the build stage for new schools typically takes 18 months.
Members of the education committee were told that at their meeting that the two new schools should ideally operate at 80 to 90 per cent capacity, rather than the currently projected 96 and 97 per cent.
The report added: “Where design allows, the building should include an area where an extension can be added in future, to mitigate the need to add additional capacity.”
“Decoupling St Stephen’s Primary from the original Paddock Street campus proposal would not require a further statutory consultation; but further engagement will be required with the school and wider community to ensure there is an understanding of the need for the change.”