A local councilor who misjudged the number of places needed for students at a new school was branded “completely incompetent”.
An independent inquiry has delivered a damning verdict on how Renfrewshire City Council dealt with a mistake that left the village of Dargavel short of up to 1,000 primary school places.
The report found that the local authority’s planning was “woefully inadequate”.
The council said it “deeply regrets the very serious mistakes”.
Dargavel Primary in Bishopton, Renfrewshire opened last year with a capacity of 548 people.
Renfrewshire Council then admitted that there had been “significant errors” in its forecasts and that the region now needs between 1,100 and 1,500 primary school places over the next decade.
- Parents’ concern that Dargavel school is short of 1,000 places
- Renfrewshire Council faces a £75million bill after the school was underbuilt
- Apologies from the council after the primary school was built too small
Parents said they could expect their children to be split between different schools or relocated as a result of the bug.
And now an independent review has drawn a number of criticisms from the Council. This contains:
- A 60 percent increase in living space at the site compared to the original plan was only to be achieved by a 30 percent increase in the “already totally inadequate” planned primary school places.
- That Council officials displayed arrogance and an “amateur” approach to the negotiations and assessment of the impact of developments.
- Contribution arrangements made with developer BAE Systems for the new school were so “grossly inadequate” that as the housing estate expanded, BAE’s payments for education per child declined.
- Numerous legitimate concerns from local groups, some dating back more than a decade, “were brushed aside and not even subjected to cursory scrutiny.”
The Renfrewshire Council review, led by independent consultant David Bowles, recommends reconsidering the catchment areas of local schools and continuing to revise the council’s student forecasting model.
Local parent Alan Kelly, former Chair of the School’s Parents’ Council, said: “The report uses the word ‘incompetent’ more than once and finds that numerous legitimate parental concerns have been brushed aside.
“Disappointingly, it does not address the failures since October 2022 and does not consider the roles of the current Council leadership team.”
“The council has failed us again – still no land for the new school, still no plan, nothing in place.”
Renfrewshire Council is currently in talks with landowner BAE about securing a site for a new primary school in Dargavel, which would accommodate 800 pupils and would cost up to £45m.
In addition, an extension to Park Mains High School in Erskine would be required to accommodate an additional 400 pupils, at an estimated cost of up to £30m.
The council’s chief executive, Alan Russell, said he “deeply regrets the very serious historical mistakes that have been made over an extended period” and the “understandable hardship that has been inflicted on local communities in the region”.
He added: “This is a very difficult report for the Council and will be equally worrying for the Dargavel community.”
“I fully appreciate the results of the review and accept all the recommendations contained therein.
“The detailed work is progressing rapidly to increase student capacity and improve our processes and procedures.”
A spokesman for BAE Systems said: “While we have delivered on our primary education planning commitments with the construction of a new school in 2021 and the provision of land for a nursery school, we continue to proactively work beyond those commitments with Renfrewshire Council to bring about.” to support the school.” Revised strategy for the local provision of primary education. “We recognize the importance of this issue for residents of the village of Dargavel and have identified potential development areas for Renfrewshire Council that could be used to meet their additional primary education needs.”
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