Historic Scotland has said it will block the planned £31 million replacement of Harris Academy in Dundee unless it can be persuaded that demolition of the listed building is the only option.
Liberal Democrat group leader Fraser Macpherson said there was a Holyrood election due next year and he wondered if there was any legal agreement in place to hold the next administration, whoever it was, to the current commitment to fund two-thirds of the cost of the project.
Depute chief executive Pat McIlquham explained that at present the project cannot be formally defined, so no such agreement can be put in place.
SNP councillor Stewart Hunter said he hoped councillors of all parties would try to ensure that their MSPs did not renege on the funding commitment.
Meanwhile, Dundee-based Labour MSP Marlyn Glen said she was disappointed by a response from schools minister Keith Brown over the arrangements being used for the Harris Academy project.
The school will be one of the first public sector procurements to involve a Hub, which brings several local authorities together with a private sector partner to try to make major building schemes more efficient and less expensive.
Ms Glen had asked why the Harris project had to be carried out through the east central Hub, even though this organisation has not yet been properly established.
The schools minister told her, “On June 2 the Scottish Futures Trust informed local authorities of how much funding they should expect for their schools projects, and when they will receive it.
“I was pleased to note that Dundee City Council immediately issued a press release wholeheartedly welcoming both the timing and funding allocation… and that it would be progressed through the Hub territory.”
Ms Glen said, “The minister gives no educational explanation why the Hub must take precedence over Harris Academy. The timetable for the refurbishment stretches further into the future.”
City councillors last night agreed in principle to carry out further investigations into a full or partial rebuild of the 1930s Perth Road school, with a final decision to be made in September.
But the education committee heard that for this to happen Historic Scotland will have to withdraw or amend its category B listing for the building.
A spokeswoman for the agency said, “Historic Scotland has to be notified of any proposals for the partial or complete demolition of a listed building.
“As these buildings are or historic or architectural importance there is a strong presumption for their retention.
“Any application for their demolition must therefore demonstrate that all other alternatives have been considered and that none is viable.”
Members of the education committee spoke in favour of the rebuild proposals, with Councillor Jim Barrie a former pupil at the school describing it as a “really exciting” and saying he hoped would bring great credit to the West End.
But Labour education spokesman Laurie Bidwell queried whether the council was taking a calculated risk in pursuing this option without having a Plan B in place if Historic Scotland refused consent for demolition.
He also expressed concern at the timescale, with work not expected to start until 2013 and to last two years.
Council official Gillian Ross-Pond said the negotiations with Historic Scotland were “absolutely crucial” and an earlier start on site was unlikely.
She added, “It is my job to ensure that we do get some satisfactory outcome with Historic Scotland, and we are working very hard on that basis. Watch this space!”