Greens councillor Chris Ballance claims 'this administration values roads ahead of schools – cars before kids'
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Councillor Chris Ballance estimates that 12,764 – almost half – the pupils in the Highland are being educated in schools that are graded as either “poorly suited to education” or have “major defects.”
The Greens groups leader and Aird and Loch Ness member was unable to support the capital programme and abstained after Highland Council revealed it needed £223 million more to finish the planned school buildings.
Parents have been in uproar over the issue because of repeated problems Charleston Academy has faced from mice and mite infestations to crumbling ceilings and faulty concrete throughout the school.
Cllr Ballance quoted recent statements from pupils at Charleston in the chamber during an extensive three hour debate on the investment programme: “‘Mouldy.’ ‘Depressing.’ ‘Sad.’ ‘Hate.’ Listen to our children: ‘The buildings are just dirty and gross and it makes me want to change schools,’ and ‘Holes in the roof of science class with mushrooms growing out.’
“And: ‘The building is crumbling but the teachers are kind-hearted, and care deeply about how we are learning.’ These are the voices of pupils of Charleston Academy. They are not alone. The parents of Beauly Primary, which feeds into Charleston, have said very similar things to us ward councillors.
“And if you look at the reply which was circulated last week to my colleague Helen Crawford, if I’ve done the maths correctly 12,764 – almost half – of our 30,000 school pupils work in buildings which are graded as either ‘poorly suited to education’ or are in a poor condition with major defects and unable to function effectively without continuous repair."
Affecting academic performance?
He continued: “We often ask ourselves why is Highland Council towards the bottom of the school performance leagues? Think it possible, colleagues, that this may have something to do with it. What is more important than educating our children? We cannot afford to stop this programme now.
“Obviously this is not the fault of this administration – building problems develop over years, and this comes from a decade of ducking the issue by successive administrations.
“Today, the whole UK public sector is itself crumbling and falling apart thanks to budgets forced on us by governments that Scotland consistently voted against. Leader – I appreciate you are in a horrible position here, but there are choices here, and this paper makes the wrong choices.
“There are always alternatives. This budget sets aside £40 million for roads, £25 million for schools. Money talks. Convenor, this administration values roads ahead of schools – cars before kids. Naver Bridge may be falling down – so is Charleston Academy
“More borrowing is always possible. And while that impacts on the revenue spend in future years, we save on massive continual repair costs incurred. Ask ourselves what will councillors in 25 years’ time think?
“Will they curse us for over-borrowing or will they say “at least we had a decent education in a decent building, not a dump over-run with mould, mice, red ants, RAAC concrete”. At least 8 years of that faces a pupil currently in Beauly Primary School.
“Paragraph 7.5 says ‘Even were the Scottish Government to announce LEIP funding it would not be possible to accommodate all the school projects.’
“Convenor, I have made promises to the Beauly parents, and more importantly, Beauly children, that I will do all I can to ensure their school gets built. I cannot vote for this paper. I plead that we ask officers to come up with different proposals, proposals which offer a decent education to our children.”
More questions than answers
Afterwards, Kate Morris the vice chair of Charleston Parent Council said: "The review of the capital programme by Highland Council gives no answers and only raises questions. Nearly two years ago Charleston Academy was promised £15.7 million for a new Science and Technical building - how can all that money be gone?
“The dilapidated academy had to be completely closed in June due to a red mite infestation, and more recently Home Economics was closed with a mouse invasion. Last week at our Parent Council meeting parents repeatedly asked what is the contingency plan if the building has to close again and for a longer time but to date we do not have an answer.
“Recently Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) was discovered in the roof that has been damp and leaking for years. Structural engineers assessed this visually but an intrusive survey that examines the actual state of the concrete has not yet been done. How do we know that this is safe and not deteriorated? How can the Council propose that this situation is workable for the next 5 years and beyond?
“And what about the learning and teaching and wellbeing in this environment for our kids? We are deeply disappointed - surely this should be a priority.”
