Council approves over £1.5M on education and leisure projects

Members of The Highland Council’s, Education, Culture and Sport Committee have agreed to £1.79 million additional capital funding expenditure for five construction projects throughout the Highlands.

At the Lochaber Leisure Centre in Fort William £370,000 will be spent bringing all the public areas up to full disabled access standards in addition to the £830,000 already committed for this project.

An estimated £1.0M will be spent at Aldourie Primary School, near Inverness, on providing new demountable accommodation for the 37 pupils .This demountable unit will be linked to the existing school building which will be extensively refurbished to create a General Purposes classroom, new dining facilities and office accommodation for the staff.

Remedial action to repair a railway footbridge at Alness Academy at an estimated cost of £300,000 was homologated on the grounds of health and safety risks posed to pupils and members of the public.

Members also approved £120,000 (£60,000 on each project) at Nairn Academy and Grantown Grammar to convert areas of both schools into additional science/home economic classrooms.

At Nairn Academy the funding is to convert the former school library area while at Grantown Grammar an area formerly used as science laboratories will be converted.

Councillor Bill Fernie, Chairman of The Highland Council’s Education, Culture and Sport Committee, said: “These investments reflect the Council’s on-going commitment to support learning and leisure across the Highlands”