Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Plans changed after feedback from public
Changes have been made to ent rance a r rangement s for the proposed school and health campus in Chryston following feedback from residents.
A new 14-classroom primary school and an NHS Lanarkshire clinic are to be constructed at Lanrig Park, with the school moving from its nearby current campus – shared with the area’s high school and nursery – as it is now too small for rising pupil numbers.
Members of North Lanarkshire’s education committee were told in a report: “Significant consultation has taken place with community groups regarding the design [ and] concerns were raised regarding the single entrance to the health centre and school reception.
“The proposals have taken on board the concerns of the community [and] a standalone entrance to the health centre is now in place.”
Councillors were told that initial proposals for the facility will be finalised in the coming months, and a planning application will then be submitted.
The new clinic will replace an existing facility in the area, with the health board and council having agreed in the summer on the joint development, off Cliffvale Road.
North Lanarkshire Council will lead the development and NHS Lanarkshire will pay the capital cost of its new clinic and then pay a peppercorn annual lease of £1 for the next 25 years, while the two bodies share service charges.
Updates on three more planned new schools for Monklands were also contained in the same education report, with the new home for the merged Carnbroe and Sikeside primaries and Calder community centre having reached the same design development stage.
Artists’ impressions of the proposed building were recently released, following “preplanning consultations [and] workshops with community groups including parents and schoolchildren to obtain their input to the design of the facility”, with a full planning application due to be submitted during 2021.
New builds are also planned for Gartcosh Primary, to increase capacity, and for St Kevin’s which will move out of the campus it shares with Bargeddie Primary and into a new building in the village to allow more pupils to be accommodated at each of its two schools.
Councillors were told in a report: “Discussions on a potential site for a new Gartcosh Primary continues. This is a drawn-out process as a result of the council not owning sufficient land in this area on which to build.
“While the time being taken to secure a site is frustrating to all – officers, elected members and the community – [ the council] continues to work with owners willing to sell land which will meet the needs of the community, within a financial envelope that the council can accept and is deliverable.
“This project remains a priority due to current capacity pressures at the existing school.
“[At] St Kevin’s, the scoping exercise is finalised and the project is ready for passing to the hub delivery team when financial and people resources are available.”
Education committee members were also updated on North Lanarkshire’s plans to create eight town hubs including schools alongside community facilities such as leisure and retail.
They were told that the major developments will have six “guiding principles”, including that they should provide services for the whole community, and be designed with local residents to be unique to each area, creating “a sense of pride” and complementing nearby services.
A report adds: “Hubs will be accessible from early in the morning until late in the evening and all spaces within should afford multi-functional use for the whole community.
“Facilities should only be provided where it can be demonstrated that they would be used both through the day and in the evening. No facilities should be provided where they are only for use in the evening.
“Central to the hub model is the learning and teaching facilities offered. However, the wider community must perceive [it] to be a whole community asset.”
Both the current Monklands
Hospital site, and the Rawyards area around St Margaret’s High and the town’s leisure centre, are being considered as locations for Airdrie’s hub, while the facility in Coatbridge will be based round one of its three existing high schools.
St Margaret’s is set to be incorporated into the Airdrie hub as it is the town’s only secondary not to have been replaced or remodelled in the past 25 years, along with associated primaries which are also in that category.
Coatbridge’s relatively newer high schools will be assessed to see what facilities could be added to create the community campus model.
The five Monklands sites are being suggested “to focus discussions at a town level [and] help start the conversation and identify the preferred location” as public consultations get underway on the overall £3.5 billion, decade-long “One Place, One Plan” project.
Education committee members were told: “It is anticipated that an update on the potential phasing of projects will be presented to a future meeting of the policy and strategy committee.”