Wester Ross campaigners have stepped up calls for a new building to replace a “damp infested” Ullapool nursery.
Angry parents have been demanding action for two years in a bid to replace the existing nursery accommodation beside Ullapool Primary school on Quay Street.
Children as young as four are spending more than 15-hours-a week in the building with reports that some parents are considering pulling their children out of nursery altogether because of the problems.
It was reported last year that the walls of the nursery are so damp that children’s pictures could not be displayed on the walls because Blu-tack would not stick due to the moisture, while tin tacks pierced straight through the wall surface.
The issue is due to be considered at Highland Council’s education committee next week.
Reverend Alasdair Macleod, Free Church of Scotland minister in Ullapool, and member of the parent council, whose daughter attends the school, said: “We understand and appreciate that Highland Council has some difficult choices to make with regards to its future finances.
“But the most vulnerable – the youngest and the elderly in society – should not be penalised.
“The nursery accommodation building was supposed to be temporary, but now over 30 years later it is completely rotten to the core and something has to be done.
“A lick of paint on the outside, nor the industrial sized dehumidifier which has to be used every day in the building, doesn’t hide the fact that this building is not fit for purpose.
“With a rotten structure, dampness, mould, leaking roof and windows, deficient wiring, little ventilation, too few toilets, the list goes on and on.
“What parent wants their precious child to breathe in damp-spores from this building?”
Sot Otter, chairwoman of the Ullapool Primary School Parent Council, added: “It is our hope that the Highland Council will stop dragging its feet in bringing this issue to a positive conclusion.
“The situation with the nursery building has gone on long enough.”
Councillor Ian Cockburn, Strathpeffer, Wester Ross and Lochalsh, said: “I will be doing my utmost to ensure that this building is replaced as soon as possible with a nursery that is fit for teaching in the 21st century.”