Listen
More new schools
26/11/2009
The primary school element of the first tranche of the new school building programme will see 21 new school building projects across 19 local authorities.
Following on from the 14 secondary schools announced in September - which will place over 12,000 pupils in modern classrooms - every local authority in Scotland is set to benefit through the first tranche of the new £1.25 billion school building programme. This latest element includes 20 primary school projects and one involving a new special school and will benefit a further 6,000 pupils.
Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop made the announcement on a visit to the newly refurbished Larbert Village Primary near Falkirk.
Ms Hyslop said:
"Today's announcement means that every local authority in Scotland will benefit from our new £1.25bn school building programme, as we continue to reverse the trend of under investment and neglect in Scotland's school estate seen in previous decades.
"This Government inherited a legacy of 260,000 pupils in poor or bad condition school buildings and in just two and a half years that number has dropped by over 100,000. We are on track to deliver in excess of 250 new or refurbished schools in the lifetime of this Parliament through £2bn of investment already underway, supported by decisions made by the Scottish Government.
"And in the space of two months we have announced additional support for around £700m of new investment in refurbishing and replacing 35 schools, which will see over 18,000 more young people learning in cutting-edge, modern classrooms.
"Communities, teachers and pupils throughout Scotland will benefit from this new investment and the latest phase will have an impact right across the country, from the Borders up to Shetland, from Aberdeen across to Dunoon.
"We have engaged with COSLA and the councils to identify the schools that will be part of this next stage, with all these projects expecting to be completed by 2013-14. This is by no means the end of the programme and we are continuing to work together to identify further schools that will benefit through the next phases of investment."
The school projects across Scotland to benefit through the next phase are:
- Aberdeen City - Bucksburn Primary/ Newhills Primary
- Argyll & Bute - Dunoon Primary/ Kirn Primary/ St Mun's Primary
- Clackmannanshire - St John's Primary/ Claremont Primary, Alloa
- Ayrshire - Gargieston Primary, Kilmarnock
- East Dunbartonshire - Lairdsland Primary, Kirkintilloch
- East Lothian - Haddington Infants / St Mary's Primary
- Eilean Siar - Daliburgh Primary
- Falkirk - New RC primary
- Glasgow - 3 projects: Garrowhill Primary; Glendale Primary; one further primary school
- Inverclyde - Lilybank/ Glenburn Special Schools
- Moray - Kinloss Primary
- Orkney - Evie Primary
- Perth & Kinross - Invergowrie Primary
- Renfrewshire - St James Primary, Renfrew
- Scottish Borders - Duns Primary
- Shetland - Happyhansel Primary, Walls
- South Lanarkshire - Spittal Primary, Rutherglen
- Stirling - Riverside Primary
- West Lothian - Pumpherston & Uphall Station Primary
Scottish Government support for these 21 school projects is without prejudice to the appropriate statutory procedures which the 19 Councils must adhere to.
The following criteria were considered as part of the process to identify the schools: distribution of needs, nationally; best available information about schools' condition and "unsuitability" to deliver modern education; schools which are not part of a funded programme already; local authorities' own priorities; and readiness to proceed.
The Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) will have a central role in managing this new school building programme, working alongside locals authorities. The SFT will develop, recommend and implement approaches that will secure a better schools programme across Scotland, and better value for money than could be achieved through each local authority working separately.