Proposals for 5 priority school projects agreed at Council

Members at today’s meeting of the Highland Council agreed the scope, budget, phasing and timescale for 5 priority school projects including Beauly Primary, Culloden Academy, Dunvegan Primary, Park Primary, and St Clements School. It was also agreed that these projects are to be incorporated into the Council’s current capital programme.

At the last meeting of the Council on 24 June 2021, significant capital funding of £54m was identified for investment in the five Highland schools. Since this meeting, initial briefing and design work, and some engagement with internal and external stakeholders, has continued in line with the Council’s commitment to deliver these priorities.

Education Chair, Cllr John Finlayson added: “Providing the best possible school learning environment and facilities continues to be one of our key priorities. To help us to achieve this goal, we will be engaging and working closely with each of the five schools and their stakeholders. This will make sure that communities are provided the opportunity to help shape the proposals which will improve the learning environment for many children in Highland and allow us to look at the next key projects we need to move forward.”

Design and build contractors have now been selected for all the projects to ensure that early engagement can take place with the Council’s internal project teams in order that key delivery dates can be achieved. 

Housing and Property Chair, Cllr Ben Thompson said: “A great amount of work has taken place by Highland Council Officers to prepare detailed plans for each of the five schools previously identified for investment in the Council’s capital plan. These plans set out the work that has been taking place to identify the improved buildings and learning environments for the children and young people in each of the five schools, along with the amount of money that will be invested, the timelines involved and the anticipated completion dates.”

Each project will have a Stakeholder Group comprising of parents, staff, local elected members, representatives of local community councils, and any other community partners that may be affected by the proposals. In addition, a strategy will also be developed for consulting with pupils to capture their feedback.   

More information on the proposals and on the Communication and Engagement Strategy can be found at section 9 of the report (agenda item 12), available on the Council’s website.

Additionally, it was agreed the Council’s bid to the next phase of the Scottish Government’s Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) will support the need for new secondary and primary provision in East Inverness.

The Medium Term Financial Plan report, presented to Council in June, noted that development in East Inverness would be required by either 2027/28 or 2028/29 to deliver approximately 500 primary school places and approximately 1,000 secondary school places.