Buckie High School funding delays to be raised in Scottish Parliament
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
DELAYS to a final decision on funding to build a new Buckie Community High School (BCHS) are to be raised at the Scottish Parliament.
Moray Council's education, children's and leisure services committee heard on Tuesday, September 19 that a final decision on the local authority's application to the Scottish Government's Scottish Government's Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) Phase 3 project funding would not likely be made until next year.
The outcome will determine whether both Forres Academy and BCHS – or just the former school – will be replaced with new builds.
Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP Karen Adam said she would be raising the matter at Holyrood. Both schools have been deemed substandard in terms of their physical structure.
She commented: "Buckie High School in my constituency falls below the national standards for its structural condition.
"Significant challenges are being experienced by teachers, students, and staff in this school and additional funding through LEIP 3 would undoubtedly help address the challenges being faced. I am in frequent contact with the local councillor on this issue. I raised it with the Scottish Government both earlier this year and earlier this week and intend to raise this issue directly with the responsible minister...in Parliament."
However, Moray's Conservative MP Douglas Ross accused the Scottish Government of "kicking the can down the road".
He said: “Pupils, parents and teachers at the secondary schools in Forres and Buckie are continuing to suffer at the hands of SNP inaction.
“It is completely unacceptable that ministers are kicking the can down the road on delivering the funding required to build desperately needed new schools in these communities.
“With dangerous concrete having closed Forres Academy, there is no time to wait in setting out a timescale as to when building work will start on new schools.
“They cannot continue to leave local people in the dark and try and pass the buck. It is their savage funding cuts to local authorities year after year that means they require this extra funding for new schools.
“Alongside my Conservative colleagues on the council, I will continue to stress to SNP ministers, the urgent need to stump up this money as quickly as possible.”
