Capacity worries for new planned new Nairn Academy – concerns were raised at a recent meeting of Nairn River Community Council

There are concerns that the planned new Nairn Academy will not be large enough – even before detailed plans have been drawn up.

It was revealed at a recent meeting of Nairn River Community Council that Highland Council is proposing to relocate the town’s library to the new school, with nursery accommodation and a community café also forming part of the broader vision for the new development.

Community councillor Loreine Thomson also revealed that, at a meeting of the Nairn Academy Stakeholder Group held before Christmas, the school’s capacity is to be reduced from the present figure of 1071 to 760.

The current school roll is

668 though that is currently predicted to rise to 724 by 2028.

However, there are numerous potential housing developments being considered in and around Nairn, amounting to potentially thousands of new houses, which Ms Thomson says have not been factored in to the plans for the new school and how many pupils it may have to accommodate in years to come.

She said that while there had been talk of “future proofing” being built into the school design at the meeting, no more precise details had been provided about exactly what that meant.

“This does not make sense,” she said.

A report to Highland Council in June last year identified a need for an urgent review of school catchment areas.

But Ms Thomson said: “We were told the catchment review would not apply to Nairn, and Highland Council were confident the school would be big enough to cope.”

On the planned location for the new academy building – on the playing fields of the existing school – Ms Thomson said: “There are no alternative scenarios being considered.”

The reasons given were the poor condition of the existing school and its limited life.

“It’s a case of take it or leave it and they can’t leave it because of the poor condition of the existing school.

“The meeting was also told that if the need for the school was not as urgent and Highland Council had had to 2030, they would have had time to look at a range of alternatives “

She believed relocating the library from the town centre would cause difficulties for people from the Burnside and East Nairn areas who would have to travel further to get to it and there was also concerns about the effect removing the library from the town centre could have on footfall in the area.

“There was no discussion about possible alternative locations for the library like the town hall or the former finance offices (the building behind the Courthouse which the council has declared surplus to requirements),” she said.

“It is time for some holistic thinking across the board for the future development of Nairn through local place planning.”

As meetings of the stakeholder group continue the community council meeting was told wider community consultation would form part of the pre-application planning process for the school and was expected to last 12 weeks, though no indication was given of when this would be.

Members of Nairn West and Suburban Community Council were in attendance for this discussion and member Brian Stewart said: “It’s the wrong location (for the school). Above all it has to serve future generations.

“They are getting it horribly wrong sticking it in the corner of the academy playing field.”

In a plea to Highland Council he said: “We are heading down another disastrous route. Let’s not have another screw up.”

Community councillor Alan Hampson said: “The third generation of our family have gone through the existing school and virtually needed buckets on their heads.

“Why look to build on this site with 2000 new houses planned when you could build a new school at Sandown on a leased basis?”

A spokesman for Highland Council said: “The design brief for the replacement Nairn Academy takes into account school roll forecasting.

“Future expansion above the current roll forecasts is included within the design brief.

“School roll forecasting is reviewed and published annually to take into account local development plans, economic growth and planning applications.”