A Highland councillor made an impassioned plea for cash to prepare a plan for a new high school in her town.
The 40-year-old Nairn Academy building was described by Councillor Liz MacDonald as “not fit for purpose” as it is asbestos ridden, with leaks that have buckets under them for 40 years – and areas that are often closed off due to faulty windows.
At a meeting this week, Liz MacDonald made a plea for cash to find a way forward for the school and its 800 pupils.
Speaking at the local authority’s environment, development and infrastructure committee, Councillor MacDonald said that vital repair works had been set aside – yet there is no plan to rebuild the school.
Mrs MacDonald wanted the council to agree to having exploratory works for the new school funded. She claimed an under spend in the council’s budget should go to preparing a report on the school.
She said: “As anyone will tell you, it is a poor building with asbestos. A programme of works that was agreed for the school has now drawn to a halt. We need a business case in place to move this project forward.”
Agreeing that a project has to be developed, Councillor Tom Heggie, a former maths teacher at the school, said: “What we need is a shovel-ready project for the next round of funding from the Scottish Government.
“While the school pupils continue to perform to an exceptionally high level – the building they are in falls far below anyone’s aspirations.
“There was a report into the condition of the academy 12 years ago – and at that time it was graded as category C – it hasn’t improved and is now a category D.
“Nothing has been done about this, and there is no project ready to go. We need to get that in place.
“We think the new school could be built in the grounds of the current school – but we really need to have an assessment made of the site as soon as possible to be able to tell people what we are doing. It can not go on much longer.”
Addressing concerns a Highland Council spokesman said: “We have a condition survey that has been undertaken at the school. Until we know the long term future of the school a balance has to be struck in the spending.”