‘Interference’ test used in school closure
PKC defends action which cost £110k
Perth and Kinross Council’s legal chief has revealed PKC wanted to test the “interference” by the Scottish Government in their decision to close Abernyte Primary.
The council’s head of legal was explaining why PKC spent £110,000 of taxpayers’ money taking the Scottish Government to court after ministers called in PKC’s decision.
Councillors were discussing a report on Abernyte Primary, which will now stay open, at a virtual meeting of the lifelong learning committee on Wednesday, August 26.
The committee agreed to consider a catchment review and the possible addition of a nursery to the Carse of Gowrie school.
Responding to a question from Conservative Kinross-shire councillor Callum Purves, PKC’s head of legal and governance services Lisa Simpson defended the action taken by the local authority and said the decision to appeal had been taken by officers. The council’s legal chief said they felt the decision to close a school should “quite properly” sit with the local authority and, in this case, PKC’s lifelong learning committee.
She said: “It had always been understood in terms of our applied interpretation of the legislation that Scottish ministers would not necessarily wish to interfere with that unless there was a significant or material issue that required to be addressed - or a significant failing on our part in terms of our process or procedure.”