Keills not on the list - additional consultation proposed for school estate review

Argyll and Bute Council will consider holding extra consultation meetings with communities which could eventually be affected by any future decisions to amalgamate primary schools.

The additional consultation will give community representatives the opportunity to have their opinions included in community impact assessments, which will give the council better understanding of how changes to schools could be managed.

The council will be asked to agree a recommendation to hold informal pre consultation meetings with representatives from twelve communities that may be affected by the school estate review. This represents a new approach from the council, giving greater transparency, greater detail and greater involvement from communities.

If agreed the informal consultation will take place during the weeks commencing March 14 and 21, in the form of facilitated workshops, with the results helping to shape proposals which will be presented to council at the beginning of April.

On 3 March the council will also be asked to agree a recommendation to review the school estate on an ongoing basis, reducing the future scale of any changes which would be considered at any one time.

Once the informal discussions are completed community impact assessments will be presented to the groups who contributed to council. These assessments will inform decisions taken over which proposals will go forward for formal consultation.

Councillor Morton believes the new approach is a positive step. She explains:

“Children in Argyll and Bute receive a good standard of education and we are determined that will continue. However, education accounts for almost one third of the council’s overall budget so it’s important we make sure the money we have available is spent in the most effective way possible.

“Any proposal to reduce the number of primary schools is going to be controversial. When I was appointed Spokesperson for Education I wanted to be absolutely confident that our proposals would continue to provide excellent education for children in Argyll and Bute. I’ve spent a lot of time since January visiting schools, listening to parents and understanding their concerns.

“However, we still need to be realistic and face the fact that the council needs to make savings. We have too many schools and too many of them are under-occupied. We have an inequitable situation where the cost of education per pupil ranges from around £3,000 per year in some schools up to £30,000 in others. This situation is not sustainable. I still think we need to hear more from our communities before we make further decisions which is why I’m suggesting we have some informal consultation meetings before developing our plans for the school estate any further.

“There has been a lot of valuable work carried out to date and this will all contribute to the eventual proposals, which I will bring to council in April.”

Consultation on proposals to amalgamate 25 schools into 19, reducing the total number of primary schools from 80 to 55 was suspended on 5 January on the recommendation of Councillor Morton, the council’s recently appointed spokesperson for education. Councillor Morton wanted extra time to fully consider the proposals in light of her new appointment, the council’s reduced budget settlement from the Scottish Government and the news that the settlement only represented a one-year budget agreement. Councillors agreed to pause the consultation to allow Councillor Morton time to examine the proposals in greater detail.

Since then Councillor Morton has visited more than 60 primary schools, including all of those included in the original consultation exercise and has worked with council officers to review the way the process will continue.

And the council has held constructive and positive discussions with the Scottish Rural Schools Network and The Argyll Rural Schools Network (ARSN) The discussions with ARSN have helped develop an outline joint protocol for the pre-consultation activity, which councillors will now consider.

Councillors also requested additional information about the school estate review at the meeting on January 5 and the extra time has been used to compile this information and share it with councillors.

Argyll and Bute Council recently confirmed its budget proposals for the next three years, which sees the council saving £12 million in 2011-12, with predictions for an estimated further £31 million savings to be found over the next two years.

The education service accounts for around one third of the council’s total budget and has already made savings for 2011-12 of £2.6m.

The council paper proposes pre-consultation meeting for the following communities:

North Bute
Toward
Luss
Achaleven
Ardchattan
Ashfield
Minard
Rhunahaorine
Clachan
Skipness