Education chiefs in Dundee have been told they have a month to save secondary schooling in the west of the city.
Councillors will come together in June to discuss a major report on the future of the closure-threatened Menzieshill High School.
However, senior local Labour politicians fear it may not give enough consideration to the hundreds of new homes being built on the city’s Western Gateway.
They have told The Courier that the closure could disadvantage future generations of pupils, forced to travel to crowded schools elsewhere in the city.
The SNP administration has dismissed such claims but opponents have called for “serious thinking” to be done before a vote takes place.
Dundee-based North East Scotland MSP Jenny Marra told The Courier: “I do not believe that the impact upon pupils and families has been given enough consideration.
“Closing this school would tear the heart out of the Menzieshill community. I am also concerned that no one seems to have carried out a proper numbers assessment.
“There is a huge amount of new development to the west of Dundee, with the potential for hundreds of new pupils to move into the area, yet school boundaries are moving ever eastward.
“Harris is already bursting at the seams and it hasn’t even opened yet and I am also left to wonder what would happen if the council was to sell the Menzieshill site for yet more housing.”
Developments including the Dykes of Grey Village will see the best part of 800 homes created to the west of the city in the next few years.
New nursery and primary schools could be on the horizon for young people who come to live there but the local Labour group’s education spokesman Councillor Laurie Bidwell said the picture for older pupils was less clear.
“I think this needs reassessment as I fear the report before the council may not have been very sympathetic to the number of new houses that are being built and the new pupils they could bring,” he said.
“I hope that these developments will make everyone look again at this issue as pupils, teachers and the community deserve that kind of consideration.”
In response, SNP education convener Stewart Hunter said: “We have, of course, taken this into consideration and will wait and see what the results of the consultation are, as well as the feeling of Education Scotland.
“The problem with just re-zoning Menzieshill High (to include the Western Gateway) is that it doesn’t necessarily mean the school’s roll will fill up.
“Parents have the right to send their children to any school in the city and the new Harris Academy, for instance, would be a very attractive place for parents.”