Decision due on campus

Education: Councillors likely to give go-ahead for ambitious £71m project

The go-ahead is expected for a new £71 million Peterhead community campus to be built by 2025.

Aberdeenshire Council prioritised the Prince Street school for replacement in 2018 and chose the site at Kinmundy for the facility in June 2019.

The Buchan area committee is expected to green light the proposals on Tuesday, but will first discuss the results of the public consultation study.

“A standalone nursery will also be built on the same site”

If backed, the 1,400-pupil campus would serve pupils aged three to 18 and potentially include care homes and other facilities.

An eight-week public consultation was held last October and its findings have been shared in a report by Aberdeenshire Council’s director of education and children’s services Lawrence Findlay.

Mr Findlay says the majority of respondents are in favour of the new school, but the loss of lunchtime trade outwith the town centre and a rise in traffic to one site were among issues flagged up for councillors to consider next week.

The report suggests the campus could instead host new businesses in the hope that “the site will develop and more retail points will be created in the future, in order to meet the needs of the rising population residing in the area and the surrounding neighbourhood”.

Preparations are also under way to open consultations about merging Dales Park and Meethill Schools, and to relocate the Anna Ritchie Special School.

“Anna Ritchie School would retain its identity in a purpose-built area of the campus, should this be approved,” the report adds.

“A standalone nursery will also be built on the same site albeit as a separate project, with expected completion in 2021.

“The Kinmundy site is a part of a wider approach and it is factored in the Peterhead Masterplan.”

Other proposed facilities, such as care homes, will form separate projects with their own consultation as appropriate.

There would continue to be a number of pitches and public spaces at Kinmundy available for use by sports clubs, families and dog walkers.

The council put aside £71m for the project in February 2018, which will be part-funded from the Scottish Government’s £1 billion spending plan for new schools across Scotland.

The building of the new Peterhead Community Campus is estimated to be completed in 2025, with work beginning in 2023.

The proposals will be discussed by the committee on Tuesday.

And a recording of the meeting, held via video chat, will be made available to the public shortly after.

NEW HOME: The current Peterhead Academy would be among the educational and other facilities sited at the new community campus