Old school houses across the north-east could be brought back into use to address Aberdeenshire Council’s teaching crisis.
The local authority has been struggling to fill vacant teaching post across the region for years, with around 5% of posts still empty.
One of the reasons teachers have been reluctant to make the move to Aberdeenshire is the shortage of housing at an affordable price.
And at yesterday’s social work and housing committee, East Garioch councillor Martin Ford called on houses once set aside for school teachers to be brought back into use.
He said many – such as the school house neighbouring Hatton of Fintray Primary – had been vacant for years and should be looked at as a means of addressing the crisis.
Yesterday Mr Ford called on the council to “consider all the options” and look into re-establishing such facilities to address the teacher shortage.
He added: “We need houses for teachers. We do have buildings that were built to address issues of accommodation years ago called school houses. I would ask the council act.
“We may well own others, some have been sold on. We need to bring them back into use.”
Mr Ford did however accept that many school houses had already been sold on whilst others – such as Hatton of Fintray school house – could cost thousands to bring up to standard.
The boarded-up building has been unoccupied for almost 20 years, but has only been under the full ownership of the council for around a year.
Before then the land was in the council’s ownership but tied to a title burden which meant it could only be used for its original purpose as a school house.
This meant the local authority could not sell it on.
Mr Ford said: “The council now does have the title (for Hatton of Fintray) and it has been boarded up.
“It is empty, it is not in use. It is certainly not in a condition where someone can just move into it.”
Head of housing for the council Douglas Edwardson, said the cost of bringing many old school houses up to scratch could be “six figure sums”.
He added: “I am proud to say that issue has been addressed, we have identified possible properties in Aberdeenshire and whether they are available for alternative use.”
He added any upgraded properties would have to meet Scottish Housing Quality Standards specifications.