Campaigners have vowed to continue their battle to save a Dunfermline primary school just days after Fife Council said it should close.
Dozens of concerned parents and pupils gathered at Pitcorthie Primary School on Saturday in a show of defiance toward the local authority, which on Friday published a report recommending that it close next year.
That recommendation came despite a high-profile effort to save the school, a campaign that will continue, it is claimed.
Asked what would happen after Friday’s announcement, Andrew Hutchison, a campaigner fighting to keep Pitcorthie Primary open, said: “If anything, the fight is more determined and angry than ever before. We are more determined than ever to make sure that this school stays open.
“For so many people to turn up here at such short notice shows that we will not back down. It is a travesty, what this council has done.”
If the closure does go ahead, local school catchment areas would be rezoned, affecting Lynburn Primary, Touch Primary and Commercial Primary.
Additional nursery spaces would be created at Lynburn, Beanstalk, St Margaret’s or Touch nursery, depending upon address postcodes. Behaviour support services, currently based at Lynburn, could also be moved to Camdean Primary School.
Mr Hutchison added: “The school is still near full capacity. Some parents have taken their kids out while this is going on, and I don’t blame them, but there are still parents wanting to bring their kids to Pitcorthie.”
Following Saturday’s initial gathering at the school, a meeting took place so the campaigners could determine their next move. They have promised to attend a meeting of Fife Council’s scrutiny committee this month, where the decision will again be studied by councillors.
Following a public consultation, the Fife Council report released on Friday said: “The surplus number of places in the area indicates the need to close one school and it is the view of Fife Council that Pitcorthie represents the most practical and sustainable option.
“It is recommended, therefore, that approval be given to the proposal to close Pitcorthie Primary School in August 2015.”
Meanwhile, the council’s education spokesperson, independent councillor Bryan Poole, has called for the matter not to become the subject of party politics.
Claiming that some local representatives should not be “point scoring” on the issue, he said the actions of Fife Council were being conducted in the best interest of creating a “sustainable” school estate.
He said: “I am on public record in acknowledging the Save Pitcorthie Primary School campaign organised and led by local parents.
“They and I might not agree but nobody, myself included, could be other than impressed in how they have galvanised support for their campaign and in the way they have conducted it and I absolutely support their right to wage such a campaign.
“We’ve been discussing, exploring and consulting on how we can move towards developing a school estate that is more sustainable and able to meet modern-day demands for well over a year.
“All the information available to Fife Council has been put into the public domain and, to date, we haven’t received a logical case against the thrust of what we are trying to achieve and our direction of travel from either government or opposition MSPs and MPs.”
Picture by David Wardle