Criticism has been levelled at the way Fife Council consulted the public about its plans for replacing Madras College.
A consultation on plans to build on university land in St Andrews referred to as the North Haugh site ended last month.
While St Andrews Preservation Trust says it strongly supports improvements to the town’s educational provision, it described the process as “seriously flawed.”
Its planning policy convener, David Middleton, said, “The trust has concerns about the consultation process, and hopes that poor standards of consultation will not prejudice a well-founded decision about how best to provide a school fit for tomorrow’s generation of young people.”
Mr Middleton said the site options for the new school were reduced from seven to one before consultation began and respondents were asked whether they supported a single-site school at the North Haugh campus.
He said, “Decisions already taken seem to rule out a separate community school serving the Tay Bridgehead, or any of the other sites considered, raising questions about the true nature and value of the consultation.
“By contrast, the consultation for a new primary school at Burntisland provided six sites for consideration by the public, together with site plans and pros and cons for each proposal.Choice”The choice given to respondents to the Madras consultation appears to be a school at Langlands or no new school at all.”
The trust has also asked for clarification of the site proposed, which he said was no longer on the university North Haugh campus or on the sports field, as agreed by the education committee, but in the Strategic Land Allocation (SLA) at Langlands outlined in the Fife Structure Plan.
He said, “Use of the university indoor sports facilities is no longer part of the plan … If the school site is confirmed to be in the SLA at Langlands, a site which cannot be developed without some adverse effect on the environment, several implications emerge.”
Mr Middleton outlined safeguards in development plan policies for the Langlands SLA, designed to protect the town’s landscape setting and critical views, which state the whole area must be the subject of a master plan and that no piecemeal development will be permitted.
He said, “The trust is seeking to confirm that the development plan policies for the SLA will be observed … However, indications at present suggest that there is great pressure to ignore the structure plan policies and to dispense with these safeguards.
The bussing of up to 700 pupils to and from the Tay Bridgehead area would also make it difficult for the council to meet the climate change legislation, requiring it to reduce its carbon footprint.
He added, “We cannot judge from information provided for the educational consultation what might be the best solution for the building of new Madras, and our major concern is that a good decision cannot be produced by this seriously flawed process.”
Area education officer John McLaughlin replied, “The consultation process is currently under review by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education and it would be inappropriate to make any comment at this interim stage.”