Gargieston/Fenwick school plan shelved

Nov 6 2009 by Ian Russell, Kilmarnock Standard

A MOVE by Labour councillors to replace a £5million refurbishment of Fenwick School with a new-building for Stewarton’s Nether Robertland School was defeated on Thursday.

As forecast in last week’s Standard members decided at a special EAC cabinet meeting to press ahead with proposals to win government cash-aid for a new Gargieston Primary School, with a refurbishment at Fenwick’s village school remaining the number two priority.

Labour group leader Councillor Maureen McKay, backed by Councillor John McGhee, didn’t argue against the officials’ recommendation for a new £12M Gargieston School to be built, but sought support for a new Nether Robertland instead of a major revamp and extension of the Fenwick school accommodation in an amendment.

However the Gargieston/Fenwick ‘package’, detailed in last week’s paper, and moved by council leader Councillor Douglas Reid, seconded by depute leader Iain Linton, went through on an 8-2 vote.

East Ayrshire Council’s application for funding from the schools building programme is now with the Scottish government.

At the hour-long cabinet meeting Councillor McKay questioned the contents of a league table provided by education chief Graham Short.

The table, with headings of capacity, readiness to proceed, and parental feedback, gave the new-build for Gargieston proposal a ‘score’ of 15 (three 5s). The Fenwick scheme achieved 13 and the Nether Robertland new-build 10. A new-build Kirkstyle Primary scored 8 and merging New Farm Primary with Silverwood Primary scored only 1.

But Councillor McKay argued that taking out the parental feedback points put a new-build initiative for Nether Robertland Primary on a par with a new Gargieston Primary in amended totals.

She also wanted Graham Short to submit a report identifying proposals for a parental feedback survey to ensure that ALL parents across the whole school estate had an equal opportunity to provide feedback on their view of their current school accommodation.

Mr Short had already explained that they were up against the clock and in fact the Scottish government had wanted submissions for funding in by Friday, October 23 – six days previously.

However he confirmed the government had agreed to accept EAC’s ‘late’ bid as long as it was returned by the day after the cabinet meeting.

He stressed that didn’t mean funding for either project was guaranteed and he also revealed that the Scottish government was looking at their scheme as a four-year investment programme.

Bill McGregor, church representative on the cabinet, said: “Good money is now being made available by the Scottish government and we can’t afford to hang about and not get in there.”

Said Councillor Douglas Reid: “This is great news. We are well aware of the problems at Gargieston, but, if successful with our bid, we will get a lovely new school out of this. It also means we can accelerate other projects.

“If our submission gets the go ahead we will get work started as soon as possible.”