Buckie High School rebuild options ‘not affordable’ although hopes remain for new funding
A community’s desperate plea for a new secondary school has “not been forgotten” despite the fact that it remains “not affordable” for the foreseeable future.
Tuesday, June 17 saw Moray Council call a meeting at Buckie Community High School (BCHS) in a bid to spell out future options for its future.
Currently, on a scale from A to D, Buckie High is rated as C in condition - meaning the buildings need investment - and B in suitability. The minimum requirement is B for both.
It had initially been hoped that the school would qualify for funding from the Scottish Government's Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) Phase 3 project, which would have seen a much-needed new school built. However, Forres Academy ended up getting the nod from Moray Council for the cash.
A further blow was to be dealt in February when councillors were told that due to the “significant reduction of capital” - to the tune of £32.32 million - available to the local authority it was now the case that the “existing refurbishment options are not affordable”.
Moderated by Councillor Kathleen Robertson, the chairwoman of the local authority’s education, children and leisure services committee, she was joined at the top table by new council Chief Executive Karen Greaves, Programme Manager for the Learning Estate Andy Hall, Deputy Chief Executive of Responsibility for Education at the Learning Estate Denise Whitworth and Head of Education Vivienne Cross.
Giving an outline of the situation to date, Mr Hall said the four broad options open to the council regarding the school were, without external funding, “not affordable”.
These options are: Do nothing - described by Mr Hall as “not viable”; A major refurbishment, costing an estimated £75 million; A new build, with a price tag in the region of £100 million; A hybrid new build/revamp model for which there were no estimates as yet, although Mr Hall stated that this would be towards the “higher end” of the price range quoted.
He added that a rolling revamp programme could spread the cost over a number of years, although the flip side was that it would increase the length of disruption that would be suffered by students and staff.
Mr Hall went on to say that while there remained hopes that a further round of LEIP funding would be forthcoming from the Scottish Government, this would depend on the composition and spending priorities of the new administration following next May’s Scottish Parliament election. In the meantime, he stressed the need to have shovel ready plans for the school ready to go. He also stressed the need to explore all possible avenues of funding while ensuring that maintenance and repair work was “addressed expeditiously”.
There was then an opportunity for questions from the floor, with numerous concerns voiced.
Many of these centred around the condition and safety aspects of the school and the potential or likely impact that this has on both students and staff.
Among the safety concerns raised mentioned incidents of the smell of burning electrics, arcing sockets and the smell of gas, a situation Mr Hall said he did not “recognise”, going on to state that he was “confident the school was safe”.
There was also a broad feeling that Buckie was being left behind with other communities, such as Elgin and Lossiemouth, getting new schools over the last few years. It was voiced that BCHS consistently seemed to be slipping “to the bottom of the pile” in terms of priority.
Fears were expressed that the wider community were being edged out from the school, with some community spaces now not available due to being used for teaching or other educational purposes. Ms Cross noted that educational needs would “always be the first priority” for a school over community ones, should the need arise.
A different perspective was provided by BCHS parent council chairman David Malcolm and Buckie and District Community Council chairman Peter West, who argued that while much work was needed on the school it was not as bad as had often been portrayed on social media and the press. They had joined a tour of the school undertaken last Friday conducted by senior students, going on to tell the meeting that they had been told by the students they felt the condition of the school was not having a negative impact on their learning.
Mr Malcolm warned that a total new build could actually mean the school could lose a lot of space and facilities, including the four gym halls currently available to students.
Ms Greaves stressed there were some key messages that parents and carers should take away from the meeting.
She continued: “I’d like to reassure everyone that there’s a team of people [at the council] working on a new school for Buckie.
“While we need a shovel ready project for the future we also need to ensure that we provide a good learning environment for pupils today.
“Buckie has not been forgotten, it’s being worked on.
“We’re doing what we can with the resources we have. We’ve got a big [school] estate and need to prioritise, but nobody’s denying Buckie needs a new school. I hope there will be another round of LEIP.”
The hope was expressed during the meeting that there would be further opportunities for dialogue between the local community and Moray Council.
