Council Publishes Consultation Reports On Highland School Closures

12th July 2010

The results of statutory consultations carried out by The Highland Council to amalgamate or close rural primary schools which the Council considers are no longer educationally viable will be available for public viewing from Wednesday 14 July for three weeks.

Under the terms of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010, the Council has recently carried out consultations in Lochaber, Skye and West Ross to:

* Amalgamate Fort William Primary School and Upper Achintore Primary School in a new school on a site yet to be identified.
* Build a new Caol Primary School and to merge Lochyside RC Primary School and Fort William RC Primary School and build a new replacement Roman Catholic school on a joint campus at the site of the current Caol Primary School.
* Close the mothballed Achaphubuil Primary School and realign the existing delineated area of the school between Banavie Primary School and Ardgour Primary School.
* Close the mothballed Glenborrodale Primary School (Ardnamurchan) and extend the delineated area of Acharacle Primary School to encompass that of Glenborrodale Primary School.
* Close the mothballed Achnasheen Primary School and extend the delineated area of Kinlochewe Primary School to encompass the community of Achnasheen.
* Close the mothballed Borrodale Primary School and extend the delineated area of Dunvegan Primary School to encompass that of Borrodale Primary School.
* Close Uig Primary School and to realign the existing delineated area of the school to that of Kilmuir Primary School.

Members of the public are being invited to view the consultation reports which will be available on the Council's website at www.highland.gov.uk/schoolconsultations until Wednesday 4 August 2010.

Copies of the reports relevant to their local areas will be available at:

* Area Education, Culture and Sport Office, Elgin Hostel, Dunvegan Road, Portree, Isle of Skye IV51 9EE
* Broadford and Portree Libraries
* Broadford, Portree and Dunvegan Service Points
* Area Education, Culture & Sport Office, Camaghael Hostel, Camaghael, Fort William PH33 7NE
* Ardnamurchan, Fort William, Kinlochleven, Libraries (the Fort William RC, Caol and Lochyside report will also be available at Caol, Knoydart and Mallaig Libraries)
* Acharacle, Fort William and Kinlochleven Service Points (the Fort William RC, Caol and Lochyside report will also be available at Mallaig Service Point).
* Area Education, Culture & Sport Office, Castle Street, Dingwall IV15 9HU
* Achiltibuie, Gairloch, Kyle, Lochcarron, Plockton and Ullapool Libraries
* Gairloch, Lochcarron, Kyle and Ullapool Service Points

Members of the public who have comments in relation to any of the consultation reports can either e-mail their comments to: ecsadmin[AT]highland.gov.uk or write to:

Ron MacKenzie, Head of Support Services, Education Culture & Sport, The Highland Council, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness IV3 5NX.

All comments received will be summarised and made available to elected members who will consider the consultation reports at the Education Culture and Sport Committee on 5 August 2010.