A claim that the condition of a Perth secondary school building is having a negative impact on staff and pupils has been rejected by a member of the council administration.
Depute provost Bob Band has taken Councillor Willie Wilson to task for claiming Perth High School is “no longer fit for purpose”.
Mr Wilson had called for the urgent replacement of the school to become a council priority saying: “My main concern is that the current nature of the building is now holding back achievement and excellence for Perth High School pupils.”
His claims brought an angry response from Mr Band, who also defended the council’s spending record on schools.
“As the convener of the lifelong learning committee for Perth and Kinross council, I refute the assertion that the condition of the school in any way hampers the learning and teaching, and consequently the attainment and achievement, of the young people attending the school,” he said.
“The dedication of the staff and the efforts of the pupils have resulted in year on year improvements in attainment going back several years.
“We are perfectly well aware of the condition of the school and, has already been made clear, this is a result of our rolling programme of checks and surveys.
“In the last eight years, when I have been involved with the committee, the authority has spent or committed to spend in excess of a quarter of a billion pounds on the school estate and we have no need of advice from Councillor Wilson on how to access funds to maintain the estate in A1 condition.“
The reference to funding was in response to Mr Wilson’s call to the council to investigate replacing the school at a cost which he conceded might be in the region of £40 million.
He had said the council should look at their capital budget again and also make application to the Scottish Government for assistance.
“It is time to have some vision for the future and do our best for our young folk,” Mr Wilson said.
A council spokesman responding to Mr Wilson’s claims had said they carried out a rolling four-year programme of condition surveys on the whole school estate which “informs our future plans”.