New Fraserburgh and Stonehaven schools shelved by council months after being snubbed by government

Plans to build new state-of-the-art schools in Stonehaven and Fraserburgh have been shelved as council chiefs look to save millions over the next year.

The ambitious projects were kicked into the long grass at a crunch meeting today.

Councillors voted through a number of budget cuts aimed at filling a £35.45m financial black hole.

These include slashing school crossing patrollers, as well as free parking in several towns and reducing garden waste collections.

This is to help the local authority save £17.3m over the next year.

And new schools in Stonehaven and Fraserburgh will be left on the drawing board for now.

Doubts were cast over the new facilities when they missed out on government cash last year, described as a “hammer blow” to the towns.

What are the plans exactly?

Both projects have been in the pipeline for more than a decade.

Plans for a new £18m primary school in Fraserburgh – which would house the town’s St Andrews and Fraserburgh North populations – were first lodged in 2014.

Council bosses claim the merger was needed as the two existing schools were in need of “significant” upgrades.

The project was approved last September – with pupils expected to move into the new building on Dennyduff Road by February 2026.

What about Stonehaven?

It is a similar case with the proposed new campus in Stonehaven.

The new building would open on the grounds of Mackie Academy, and house Dunnottar and Carronhill schools.

It came as parents pushed for crumbling Dunnottar Primary School to be replaced.

The aging Mearns building is the only primary school in Aberdeenshire to score C (poor) for suitability, with concerns raised about access in particular.

Both of the proposed developments were hailed as “huge investment” into Fraserburgh and Stonehaven – aimed at providing “modern and inclusive facilities”.

So what happened at the budget meeting?

However, Aberdeenshire Council’s Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Independent ruling group – led by Tory Gillian Owen – pushed for the plans to be halted until they are “in a more stable financial position”.

Mrs Owen confirmed their commitment to building a new Peterhead Community Campus, which she described as “long overdue given the state of the current school”.

But she said the local authority had to be “realistic” about its wider spending plans.

The council leader warned: “We have to be cautious”.

She added: “We are building in an extremely volatile market, with dramatic price fluctuations… Other projects need to be reduced or reprofiled.”

SNP leader Gwyneth Petrie argued that “smaller amounts of money” should still be devoted to the projects in the coastal towns.

This could be used for scoping and preparatory works, “to get them shovel-ready as soon as we have funding for them”.

But the opposition budget was outvoted in the end.

‘Fraserburgh school is ready to go – why stop now?’

Fraserburgh councillor Doreen Mair called for the new school to be built “at the very earliest of opportunity”.

Ms Mair said: “Aberdeenshire Council has a successful track of investing in early years, however, Fraserburgh hasn’t seen the same level of investment as others.

“The school is absolutely ready to go to tender.

“And given that this would serve some of the most vulnerable and deprived postcodes in Aberdeenshire, it is very important that this school is delivered.”

But Mrs Owen stressed that they were “not walking away from” the Fraserburgh and Dunottar school plans – merely “pushing back” the timescales of each.

It comes after the projects were overlooked last year when the Scottish Government pledged funding to various new builds.

Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary Liam Kerr argued that the council was “counting on these funding bids being granted to make these projects a reality”.

33 schools across Aberdeenshire ‘half-empty’ as cash-strapped council warns of ‘tough choices ahead’