Blocks to the Rebuilding of Baldragon Academy Should be Resolved

A year after the Council gave planning permission for the new Baldragon Academy, the contract for the construction is still not signed and the planned entry date in the Summer Term 2017 is presumably no longer feasible.

This is a serious blow to the integrated operation of the planned Baldragon Campus, incorporating the replacement Sidlaw View Primary School and Jessie Porter Nursery that are already under construction on the next door site. Legal details that are delaying the signing of the contract for the building of the new Baldragon should be resolved. 

Unfortunately the latest announcement from John Swinney MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, suggests that no early resolution is in sight for an issue that is holding up numerous public procurement contracts.

With a public announcement today of work starting soon on the dualling of the A9, I hope our school rebuilding programe in Dundee is not being pushed back in the queue to make way for capital projects elsewhere.

I have asked that this item is discussed at the next Education Committee.

Barnhill Primary School Extension - Alternative Site Access

Narrow entrance roadway to
Barnhill Primary School

At the Education Committee on Monday evening 29 October, we considered a report on the proposed £1.9 million extension to Barnhill Primary School. This report spelled out the improvements to the school in addition to the original four classrooms that had been proposed.

I welcomed this report because I had backed the Parent Council in advocating that to adequately raise the capacity of this school, the Council would need to add more than four classrooms. I am delighted therefore that this report provides more nursery places and expansion to other facilities such as the dining hall which would otherwise be pinch points in a school with a higher intake.

While this is very satisfactory, I wanted to make a plea about safe access to the building site during the contract period. This had been informed by my prior meeting with the City Architect.

The entrance to Barnhill Primary School is on Falkland Crescent. The only current vehicular access to the school site is from Falkland Crescent and comprises a narrow roadway about the same width as a domestic driveway with just room for one car travelling one way. It runs parallel with a pathway for pedestrians which is fenced off. The roadway is currently used by staff to access their car parking spaces, the Janitor accessing his house, visitors to the school and parents dropping off children at the nursery. The pathway is the principal pedestrian access point for pupils and their parents/carers. The plan was apparently to also use this narrow road for the construction site access during the building works.

I requested that, in the interests of pupil safety, the design team should explore the feasibility of an alternative separate vehicular access to the building site in order to meet best practice advice arising from The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

The Education Convener agreed that this would be explored. 

Dundee Labour's Call for Commitment to Rebuild Sidlaw View Primary School and Jessie Porter Nursery School is Answered

I welcome the announcement by the City Council that it is now committed to funding Sidlaw View Primary School and Jessie Porter Nursery School as part of the proposed Strathmartine Campus along with Baldragon Academy. 

On 2 October, Strathmartine Councillor Kevin Keenan joined me in calling for such a commitment. To ensure that this issue was aired, I placed this item on the Agenda of the next Education Committee later this month. I am pleased to have received a positive response from David Dorward, the Council's Chief Executive late on Tuesday afternoon.

I note that the current intention is to rebuild Sidlaw View Primary School and Jessie Porter Nursery School after the rebuilding of Baldragon Academy. This would be disappointing as the new Baldragon is to be rebuilt on the north side of its current campus close to Harestane Road. This should allow the rebuilding of Baldragon to take place with minimal disruption to the education of the current pupils. If the rebuilding of Sidlaw View Primary School and Jessie Porter Nursery School takes place later on as the Education Convener claims, there will be a building site next door to the new Baldragon Academy for a couple of years. 

These are of course questions Councillor Keenan and I will pursue at the Education Committee and also at the Policy and Resources Committee when the Capital Plan is revised to find room for the the Council's share of funding these three new schools.

Dundee City Council General Services Capital Plan 2012-16

Note there is no provision in the exiting approved capital plan for any of the Council's costs for rebuilding Baldragon Academy, Sidlaw View Primary School and Jessie Porter Nursery School.

Statement by Councillor Laurie Bidwell moving the Labour Amendment to the Capital Plan 2012/16

Statement by Councillor Laurie Bidwell moving Labour's Amendment to the Council's Capital Plan 2012/2016 at the Budget Meeting on Thursday 9 February 2012

I wish to move our amendment to the Capital Plan.

Make no mistake we support the planned investment in two new Primary Schools, in Menzieshill and Coldside, and £1 million for the extension of Barnhill Primary School and a fund of £1.75 million for the refurbishment of seven primary schools; about £250,000 per school. What we propose is more investment in our schools.

We justify our amendment for the following reasons. Firstly, if we look at the underlying trend in capital spending, investment in refurbishing and building new schools is reduced over the period of this plan. This must be disappointing news for electors who believed SNP Councillors who promised to match Labour's school building programme brick for brick. 

Secondly the budget for refurbishment and extensions and is too small. Most significant is the absence of spending earmarked for our four older secondary schools. Baldragon Academy opened over fifty years ago as Kirkton High School in 1960 and Craigie High School, Menzieshill High School and Braeview Academy all built forty years ago in the early 1970's. Speaking recently to the Press, the Leader of the Administration, Councillor Ken Guild, referred to Our Ladies RC Primary School and Rosebank Primary School in the Hilltown as past their sell by date. If that is true, and I agree with his judgement, that makes our older Secondary Schools deserving of refurbishment funding too. We have therefore re-profiled the capital spend so that there is an additionally £1.4 million as a fund to be allocated to priority refurbishment and building projects in secondary and primary schools with priorities decided at the Education Committee.

I think pupils and teachers studying and teaching in our four older Secondary Schools will wonder why they have been abandoned for the next five years and don't even manage an entry in the Later Years column of the plan. There is a gulf between our shiny new two PPP secondary schools St Paul's RC Academy and Grove Academy, the rebuilt Morgan Academy, the substantially refurbished St John's RC High School the eventually to be rebuilt Harris Academy and the remaining four older secondary schools. No other political group on the Council has identified this issue. We think the provision of this fund boosted by the additional cash coming for Education of the Scottish government's budget yesterday will provide some pockets of hope to schools left off the list by the Administration's Capital Plan.

Our re-profiling of the capital plan delays by a year the spending on New or Refurbished Centralised offices and other facilities for the new Environment Department. Having received a briefing about this from the Director of Environmental Services, a one year delay will allow more time to rethink the rationale for this development and the appearance of more robust options and plans to be brought forward for committee approval. We can't prioritise spending on Council Offices on the basis of back of the envelope plans at the expense of cheese paring investment in our older schools.

So the choice is clear today, go with this plan and cut out spending on any of our older schools such as the four older Secondary schools.  If you vote against this, I think voters in the catchment areas of our older schools will wonder why you blundered today. 

Support our amendment and prioritise more investment in school building instead of more new staff offices.

I so move.

Cautious Welcome for Barnhill Primary School Extension

Dundee City Council's Draft Capital Plan was circulated on Tuesday 24th January and will be part of the Budget meeting on 9 February. 

The inclusion in the new Capital Plan of £1m for a 4 classroom extension to and refurbishment of Barnhill Primary School is welcome. I have been calling for this for a long time including raising it on the agenda of the Education Committee last March. 

This announcement is some recognition that more accommodation is required at Barnhill Primary School to fit in the rising number of children within the school's catchment area in Barnhill, Panmurefield and Balmossiie Brae. Parents and carers with pre-school children in this part of The Ferry will be relieved that, by the summer of 2014, the school will be able to accommodate more children. 

Of course it's really early days, and the detail in the report is thin. While £1m is welcome, this is only 20% of the money previously earmarked for future spending on refurbishing and extending the school. Bearing in mind that a similar amount of money was approved on a 4 classroom extension to Kingspark School at the Education Committee on Monday 23rd January, the refurbishment will be limited and certainly not on the scale of the extension and refurbishment at Forthill Primary School a number of years ago. 

I will be talking to members of the Parent Council and the Head Teacher about this. I hope we will be able to treat this as a down payment and get the Council to increase the budget so that not only will more classrooms be in place but the other facilities in the school, such as the already overcrowded dining hall, can be extended to help keep pace with the rising number of children in the school.

Labour Councillors Respond to Council's School Building Programme

The Council's Draft Capital Plan was circulated on Tuesday afternoon and will be part of the Budget Meeting to be approved in two weeks time. This report spells out the school building programme including new schools and refurbishments of existing schools.

Labour's Education Spokesperson in the City, Councillor Laurie Bidwell said: 

"The intention to build two new Primary schools, extend another and refurbish seven further primary schools in the City is welcomed. But clearly we need more detail to know what is planned. I hope an early report to the Education Committee will help clarify which schools are involved and to what the planned programme spend will cover."

Coldside Labour Councillors, Mohammed Asif and Helen Wright said:

"We are right behind the proposal to build a new Primary School with Community Facilities in our ward which we have called for. Parents and carers will welcome the new investment in the Education of their children. We hope the inclusion of community facilities will replace the Highwayman and help put the heart back into the community. We also welcome the inclusion of Dens Road Primary School in the refurbishment programme. Of course it's early days but like our constituents we will need to know which of our Coldside schools is to be replaced by the new build school and where this is to be built."

Lochee Labour Councillor Tom Ferguson said:

"I welcome the proposal for a replacement Primary School with community facilities in Menzieshill. Co-housing a new Primary School with community facilities will be advantageous for the community of Menzieshill. I also welcome the inclusion of Ancrum Road and St Mary's RC School in the refurbishment programme. Of course the report is short on detail at the moment. We need to know which primary school will be replaced and whether the new community facilities will be additional or a replacement for the existing Community Centre and Library. I will be talking to parents, constituents and Head Teachers and the Community Centre staff about this in the coming weeks."

Councillor Laurie Bidwell said: 

"The inclusion of £1m for a 4 classroom extension to and refurbishment of Barnhill Primary School is welcome. Parents and carers in Barnhill, Panmurefield and Balmossie Brae with pre-school children will be relieved that the school will be able to cope with the rising pre-school population in the school's catchment area."