Balhousie to close
Councillors agree to go ahead with school plans
Councillors have agreed to press ahead with plans to permanently close Balhousie Primary School.
At a meeting of Perth and Kinross Council’s lifelong learning committee on Wednesday, it was agreed to move to a “statutory consultation” to close down the Dunkeld Road school.
The committee also agreed to build a new school at North Muirton Primary School, which will cover the catchment area of both Balhousie and North Muirton.
Committee convener councillor Caroline Shiers said: “Both schools are considered in the single option appraisal because £16million is in the council programme for a replacement school in the north of Perth.
“It should be built on the current site of North Muirton for North Muirton and Balhousie, and the new school will be completed by 2022.
“The committee is asked to close Balhousie with its catchment subsumed into North Muirton when the new school is completed.”
A number of councillors echoed the calls to close the 109-year-old B-listed building.
Independent Cllr Xander McDade said: “I toured Balhousie at length. There is damp, the windows don’t close properly, paint peeling off the walls, heating doesn’t work and dry rot.
“I don’t consider that an acceptable environment for children. I don’t think a building with damp is safe.
“The staff are doing a fantastic job, there is an excellent team at Balhousie and hopefully we can preserve that.
“But it is an unacceptable environment and it is not possible to bring it up to a conducive learning environment in its current state.
“Given consideration of the building and the current capacity this is the best option to get a new school for all the children.”
This comes after a public consultation last year into the potential closure of the school – no one voted for the option to close the school.
This was questioned at the meeting by Cllr Mike Williamson, who asked if the public responses were factored into the report.
He was informed by education bosses there were a number of contributing factors in making the decision to close the school, with the public consultation only one of a number of considerations.
The SNP councillors on the committee had banded together to oppose the decision, calling for the elected members to instead agree to Balhousie Primary School build a new school at North Muirton, but keep Balhousie open and give it an extensive refurbishment.
Cllr John Rebbeck, the local SNP group’s education spokesperson, said: “It’s no surprise that the SNP cannot support this. We have great reservations about this and we wonder who else will further down the line.
“I completely support a new building for North Muirton but not to the detriment of Balhousie.
“There is a demand from parents for their children to attend Balhousie and if we could get it up to standard they would rather their children go to Balhousie.
“I understand savings may seem attractive, but the brave decision here is to invest in Balhousie.
“We oppose the closure vociferously and I’d like to propose an amendment that both sites remain in use with a new school in North Muirton.”
Many of the other councillors criticised the SNP’s standpoint.
Conservative Cllr Callum Purves said: “No one wants to close a school and people want to have a school in their local area.
“But, it has become clear that the building is not fit for purpose. We can paper over the cracks for as long as we like, but it is never going to be the same as a new building.
“I’m disappointed the SNP will not be supporting. To not give the pupils at Balhousie a new school is failing those children.”
Lib Dem Cllr Willie Wilson, viceconvener of the committee added: “There is funding of up to £16million for a replacement school, but it is for one replacement school, not a replacement school and a refurbishment.
“A decision has to be made. We could end up with a school in a poor condition with someone further down the line saying ‘I wish we had done X at Y point.’ I don’t want that situation. Refurbishing Balhousie is not the best option.
“A new North Muirton school will give parents a variety of choice, and if the new building is anything of the standard of Oakbank, Kinross or Tulloch, it will be a huge asset to the community, particularly those who need additional resources.”
The decision was passed by eight votes, with councillors Caroline Shiers, Roz McCall, Willie Wilson, Kathleen Baird, Chris Ahern, Angus Forbes, Xander McDade and Callum Purves voting for the motion.
The SNP’s councillors Henry Anderson, Stewart Donaldson, Mike
Cllrs John Rebbeck, Eric Drysdale and Andrew Parrott Williamson, John Rebbeck and Andrew Parrott voted against the decision.
Afterwards, Perth and North Perthshire SNP MP Pete Wishart said: “This Tory administration have proven they understand the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
“Balhousie Primary School has a thriving community surrounding it and parents are going to be understandably upset by the decision taken.
“Perth and Kinross Council conducted a consultation with parents at North Muirton and Balhousie and the result was that not a single parent at either school preferred the option to close Balhousie Primary School.
“This decision has proven that this consultation was a complete waste of parents’ time as the opinions were simply ignored by councillors who voted to close the school regardless.
“I will be standing by parents during the process which now follows and I will be closely watching the decisions taken on future school closure options.
“Sadly, I fear that this is the first of many damaging decisions which will be taken by this administration and I fear there are more closures planned.”