Mothballing remains for Minard school

A Loch Fyne-side primary school which has been mothballed for more than a year will be kept alive until at least December 2020, Argyll and Bute Council has decided.

Minard Primary School has had no pupils since October 2018, with pupils from its catchment area instead attending Furnace, Inveraray and Lochgilphead primary schools.

Councillors agreed to keep the building mothballed for another year, during which time education services will assess options for its future.

A report on the matter was before Argyll and Bute Council’s community services committee on Tuesday December 10.

The document, by executive director with responsibility for education Douglas Hendry, said: ‘All members of staff from Minard Primary School have either been redeployed in other posts within the authority or accepted redundancy.

‘The mothballing of a school is a temporary closure. It does not require a statutory consultation to be carried out as it is an informal non-statutory measure. It is appropriate where the authority considers that a school is not presently viable, but does not wish to close it immediately in order to assess the prospects of the number of pupils in the area increasing to the extent that the school should be reopened in the future.

‘As Minard Primary School has been de facto mothballed since October 2018, it is recommended that this process be continued until no later than December 2020.

‘In the intervening period, officers intend to monitor the situation and gather information in relation to the preliminary requirements with regard to rural school closures under the 2010 Act.’

Mr Hendry added: ‘In the event of a school age pupil moving to live within the catchment area for Minard Primary School and seeking to attend the school, the present situation is that the school may require to reopen at the next appropriate session if a sufficient level of demand for the school can be demonstrated.’