Moves to put the brakes on public consultation on school closure plans and examine alternatives have been driven out.
SNP councillors attempted to postpone the formal public engagement on proposals to shut seven of Fife’s primary schools but were defeated in a committee vote.
They wanted to see presentation of options other than closure for reshaping the region’s school estate and reducing the number of surplus spaces.
Plans to shut several of the schools including Tanshall Primary School, Glenrothes, and Pitcorthie Primary School, Dunfermline have prompted anger from parents and communities.
The council executive committee’s decision two weeks ago to proceed to consultation was called in to Tuesday’s education, social and communities committee by SNP leader Peter Grant. He said it was the wrong decision taken far too quickly by a committee that “fundamentally misunderstood” the consequences and lacked local knowledge of individual schools.
He said: “If the options are: ‘should we shut the school or do nothing?’ then the leader of the council is saying that doing nothing is the wrong answer.
“You can see why parents think the decision has already been taken. There are other options available that should be looked at but we are confining ourselves to the statutory consultation, where we have to choose whether or not to shut schools.”
Fellow opposition councillor Alistair Hunter moved for suspension of the consultation to allow for the presentation of the reasons for and alternatives to closure.
He said: “This is such a complex and emotive issue that we have a duty as councillors to present the rationale in a way that makes it perfectly clear how we arrived at the position we are in.
“We have a problem with a rationale that is full of holes, full of smoke and mirrors, seems to be rushed and seems to be engineered to give a decision in the end that we are going to close these schools.”
Council leader Alex Rowley, who chairs the executive committee, said it would be irresponsible in presenting additional options to place more schools at threat.
He said: “The review was done in a professional way by the education directorate and these are the conclusions they have reached.
“There is a chance to question the method used through the formal consultation. There is a lot more opportunity for any individual councillor to raise any questions and get any information they feel they need.
“I acknowledge that it will be a very difficult period for every school that is now going forward to a consultation on closure.
“The object of this is to improve the school estate and make it more sustainable.
“We are improving education for children across Fife so that every child can have the opportunity to achieve their full potential.”
Following the meeting, Mr Grant said parents across Fife would feel “bitterly let down” by the upholding of the executive committee decision.
He said: “Councillors voted in their party blocks to commit the council to a very narrow, very limited process where the only options are: take it or leave it.
“Most of them seemed so obsessed with closing schools they were blind to the fact that this might not be necessary. There might be much better ways of improving the condition of our schools by investing in them rather than knocking them down but they were determined not to listen.”
Parents from Pitcorthie Primary School, who protested ahead of the meeting (see below), said afterwards they were even more determined to fight for their school.
Mr Grant said: “The council might hope that if they keep ignoring these parents they’ll go away. If anything, today’s events have made the parents more determined than ever not to let the council just bulldoze their objections out of the way.”
Other primary schools under threat of closure are Wellwood, Crombie, Dunino, Rathillet and New Gilston.