Moray Council has been accused of papering over the cracks despite awarding a multi-million pound contract for school repairs.
The region’s classrooms have been ranked as being in the worst condition in Scotland with more than £100 million of work needed to make them fit-for-purpose.
Now it has been announced that the local authority has awarded a £3.3 million contract for “make do and mend” repairs to buildings.
Last night, council leader George Alexander stressed money would continue to be made available for maintenance despite reducing budgets – but described it as “crazy” to continuing funneling cash to schools that “may not have a long-term future”.
Consensus grows on closing Moray schools – as repair bill tops £100million
The former maths teacher has repeatedly stressed his belief that pupils in Moray would get a better education if the council could concentrate its under-pressure resources on fewer schools.
Meanwhile, opposition councillors called for a more strategic approach to be taken for repairs to ensure that Scottish Government funding can be accessed for large projects.
Last year, Moray Council classed Findochty, Portessie, Portgordon and Portknockie primary schools as “unsustainable” following a review of sites in the Buckie area.
Yesterday, Sonya Warren, education spokeswoman for the authority’s SNP group, stressed plans must be prepared for the schools as a “matter of urgency”.
She said: “This is welcome investment because we’ve got the worst schools in Scotland. At this rate though it’s going to take several years to get to everything.
“We need to make sure we are providing an equality of service for all our children so they are receiving the same standard of education.
“For example, the schools in the Buckie area that have been classed as ‘unsustainable’. We need to be looking at that urgently so we can access the next round of Scottish Government funding.”
Education staff have already prepared a list of work to be done in the coming months which has been focused on parts of the buildings that could force a “school closure or major disruption” if they failed.
Design work has already started for mechanical and electrical work to be done at Elgin’s East End Primary School, New Elgin Primary School, Andersons Primary School in Forres, Buckie’s Cluny Primary School and Forres Academy.
Meanwhile, designs are currently being prepared to replace flat roofs at Keith Grammar School. All of the projects are scheduled to take place during the summer.
Mr Alexander said: “We’re in a predicament at the moment with the make do and mend programme because we just have to do the best we can and hope something doesn’t go wrong.
“It’s crazy because we could end up spending a lot of money on a school that maybe doesn’t have a long-term future.
“Questions about the whole of our school estate are never going to go away until we do something about it. We must really start to tackle it in the next few years to get the conversation going.”
This year, a replacement Elgin High School was opened to replace dilapidated accommodation while a similar project was commissioned for Lossiemouth High School.
Refurbishments at St Gerardine Primary School in Lossiemouth and Seafield Primary School in Elgin were also completed – which totalled £4.7 million.
