Schools estate clarity needed

Madam, – It hasn’t taken long for a dispute between Holyrood and Fife House to break out over the financing of a new Woodmill High School in Dunfermline(The Courier, September 11).

Most people find it difficult to navigate their way through the maze of financial models, and probably don’t care whether the money comes from central or

local government.

They do care about the importance of schools in their communities. It is not just uncertainty about the state of Inverkeithing High School, next down the line in the queue for refurbishment.

The two schools in the west of Glenrothes, scheduled for replacement by the middle of the next decade, may be at risk too.

This is a community which has already lost a primary school

and a library in quick succession in the last few years.

The people there need to be offered some reassurance that the existing buildings will not just be allowed to decline.

When fire destroys an important facility, the need for action is paramount. That action needs to be backed up not just by clarity from public agencies.

There needs to be a clear strategy about the future of the schools estate.

Although council

elections are still nearly three years away I think voters would like to know that Fife Council and Education Secretary John Swinney are not just simply reacting to tragic events.

With the technologies available, education in the future will be less reliant on physical buildings.

Their role in providing a focus for community development should still not be underestimated. Bob Taylor.

24 Shiel Court, Glenrothes.