Birkhill better off if part of Dundee, believe parents.

Angus: SNP hit out after defeat of amendment to consult on Birkhill option

A school consultation row has left parents in Birkhill feeling they would be “better going back under Dundee City Council control”.

Eight proposed options for the future of education in Monifieth were included in a report but officials suggested the creation of a new school in Birkhill was not worth consulting on.

The SNP’S amendment to consult on the Birkhill option was defeated at a special meeting of Angus Council on the future of education in the Monifieth cluster.

Monifieth and Sidlaw SNP councillor Sheila Hands said: “This is definitely not a listening council if it totally ignores the views of some of its citizens once it has asked them.

“What was the point of the preconsultation when the council then determined what would then be included during the full consultation stage?

“Parents in the area are sensible, rational individuals and they realise the school can only be built if it involves partnership from Dundee or Perth and Kinross Council.

“The council, in taking the opportunity for people to have their say,

“This is definitely not a listening council if it totally ignores the views of some of its citizens once it has asked them. COUNCILLOR SHEILA HANDS

has blundered into making an unnecessary reputational mistake.”

Mrs Hands said a joint Sidlaw campus was one of the strong views conveyed during a rural charette and “negative feelings are likely to reappear”.

The school would need to be shared with Dundee City Council and Perth and Kinross Council but councillors were told discussions have been exhausted with neighbouring authorities “who don’t seem to want to come to the party”.

Mrs Hands said increasingly more locals she speaks to feel they would “probably be better going back under Dundee City Council control”.

Angus inherited Monifieth, Wellbank, Kellas, Tealing, Birkhill, Muirhead and Liff following local government reorganisation in 1996. Around 300 children spend seven-and-a-half hours a week travelling between the Birkhill area and Monifieth High School.

Monifieth and Sidlaw SNP councillor Beth Whiteside said: “I have been contacted by several parents and interested parties in the constituency, including a community council.

“The feeling I get is they feel let down, as though their voices aren’t being listened to, and priority is being given to pupils in the east end of the ward.

“I do believe that parents should continue to discuss this option. I was keen to see the option retained as I believed that if it was removed, the idea would be parked for many years to come.

“However, now the council has agreed the terms of the consultation, I don’t believe there is a mechanism for getting this changed at present, which is frustrating.”

She has “yet to be convinced” there is no political will in the long-term to bring the idea to fruition.

gbrown@thecourier.co.uk