MORE CULLODEN ACADEMY DELAYS? 'Highland Council are trying to wear us down but we are going to fight for the school our community deserves' say Inverness parents
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Parents at an Inverness secondary school are angry after it appears a multimillion-pound upgrade project is facing delays.
Culloden Academy Parent Council says it is "absolutely furious" that the project at Culloden Academy – one of the most overcrowded schools in the area – with the latest apparent setback.
After sending a letter on behalf of Culloden Community Council and and the parent council to Highland Council’s chief executive Donna Manson demanding she reviews the situation in May, parents are now calling on the public for support.
They claim they were told at a meeting on Thursday that the school extension project has been delayed until 2025.
A statement by the parent council on social media reads: "This is what we were told at the stakeholder group last night – for phase one of the school extension, we were informed the estimated completion date has slipped to 2025, and that is only if there was approval of additional capital funding and if the school continues to remain as a priority school within the capital budgets programme.
"We are absolutely furious about this and are frustrated and upset with yet another delay. The CAPC [Culloden Academy Parent Council] representatives seemed to be the only ones at the stakeholder meeting who did not know this information. We have been chasing to get the project moving since early 2020. In February 2021, we were told the extension building would be completed by August 2023. By mid-year the increased budget and scope of the project forecast completion was August 2024. Now we are told August 2025. This project was deemed essential back in 2018 and since then, very little progress has been made. There has been no stakeholder meeting since January 2022.
"We ask you as parents to please write to your local councillors – there was very little reaction by this announcement last night – it seemed they had prior knowledge of this information except perhaps one. Our newly elected councillors all championed the new extension at CA [Culloden Academy] in all their flyers and social media, yet they didn't have much to say last night.
"We understand the situation with the economy and business, the cost of inflation and everything that goes along with what the UK is facing right now, but if you were a private sector business this would simply not be acceptable – and neither should this. Had the school project been properly funded back in 2018 with staffing resources and a commitment to work on the designs in a timely manner, we would not be in this situation four years later, where we still do not have a school design and planning has not yet been submitted. The school roll for Culloden Academy is growing and as more houses are built within our catchment, the pressure on classroom sizes and teaching staff will only get worse.
"The Highland Council are trying to wear us down but we are going to fight for the school our community deserves. There is talk of another secondary school being needed in Inverness East, but Culloden Academy is here already and serves a large and growing community. We are preparing our response to this information right now but please help us by contacting your local councillor and let them know what you think.
"We need your support and welcome any comments and feedback on this."
Highland Council has been asked for a comment.
