Councillors have said there is “no pain-free option” to rebuild a fire-hit Aberdeenshire school.
It comes as the local authority looks into knocking down Kinellar Primary and sending pupils for lessons three miles away in neighbouring Kintore.
Aberdeenshire Council had been already been planning to rebuild the school and sending its pupils north to the forthcoming Kintore Midmill school before the fire on New Year’s Day.
The nursery and primary one classroom were both lost to the flames.
Now local councillors hope that moving the 350-pupils to Kintore Midmill could pave the way for the new school to be built by summer 2018.
East Garioch councillors Martin Ford and Fergus Hood said they do not foresee any issues with the plan.
The council’s education, learning and leisure committee this week heard officers were making headway on potentially replacing the school on the current site.
However it is also looking into a compulsory purchase order of land to the other side of the village as a location to rebuild the school.
Yesterday Mr Ford said: “There is no painless option here. There is certainly further discussions to be held.
“I am of the view that on balance rebuilding in the current site is the least risky option. But it is not a pain-free option.
“We have to take a holistic view of the pros and cons of either option in coming to a conclusion.
“We can’t hang about on this. If the option is to rebuild on the current site, there is a window of opportunity. We need to maintain and continue to discuss with local communities.”
He added a replacement on the site of the current Kinellar Primary could mean Blackburn as a whole may miss out on wider community facilities.
Mr Hood said discussions with the landowner around the CPO would have to be drawn to a close before a way forward is considered.
He said: “The final, final decision will be taken and won’t be until we get to the end of the CPO process. That is going to take several months.
“The council can’t hang about and say we’ll wait another year. The have got to look at other options. The school is needing replaced, there is no doubt about it.”