Safety fears as school checks are ruled out
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PARENTS and others have reacted with fury after Highland Council revealed no local schools built using private finance will be subject to intrusive inspections – despite a suggestion this was the only way some faults in Edin-burgh schools were uncovered.
Problems across the Scottish school estate came to light last year after more than a dozen properties in the capital were closed following the collapse of a wall at a central belt primary school.
In total 72 Scottish schools built with private finance were found to have faults similar to those in Edinburgh, mainly concerning support structures for walls, and while Highland Council says it is satisfied with the level of checks it has carried out across the region, questions have now been raised about whether these are sufficient.
An independent report into the Edinburgh situation, looking at matters that came to light after the wall collapse, stated: "The subsequent discovery of significant defects, following intrusive investigations, would suggest that visual inspections are not sufficient on their own to provide an informed opinion as to the existence or otherwise of defects of this type."
Highland public-private partnership (PPP) schools include Glen Urquhart High, Strathdearn Primary, Bun-sgoil Ghaidhlig Inbhir Nis, Cawdor Primary, Culbokie Primary, Drummond School, Inshes Primary, Millburn Academy and Resolis Primary.
Last week the council insisted periodic inspections had been carried out during construction phases of all schools, as well as on completion, by both the council’s building surveyors and independent assessors.
This was then followed by further non-intrusive surveys of all PPP facilities in the wake of the Edinburgh incident.
As a result of these checks an intrusive survey – which involves drilling holes in walls to visually inspect their internal structure – is planned for Ardnamurchan High School in Lochaber, to take place during the summer holidays.
However, other similar checks are not planned for any other Highland schools.
One parent with a child who attends Millburn Academy said: "If it is really the case that there were faults in Edinburgh schools that wouldn’t have come to light other than through these higher level checks, I don’t see how there can be any excuse for not doing them.
"The consequences of something going wrong could be disastrous."
Another parent with a child at the new Inverness Royal Academy, which was blasted by angry parents earlier this year for a "scandalous catalogue" of issues over its construction, said: "I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that they won’t carry out these checks. Parents, staff and pupils all need certainty about something as important as this."
Chairman of Cradlehall and Westhill Community Council, Duncan Macpherson, who is standing as an independent candidate in the upcoming council elections, recently promised to improve facilities at Culloden and Millburn academies if elected.
"These are checks that should definitely be done, otherwise you are simply counting on anything having been picked up during periodic checks that, because of the times between these sorts of things, we know could be missed," he said.
