The long wait for a new Madras College in St Andrews is not over yet.
Before deciding where the school will be located, Fife Council must hold more talks with St Andrews University about shared facilities.
The council is prepared to break its £40 million budget by a further £2.55 million, which would see Madras pupils and the wider community benefit from the use of a 12-court games hall for the next 25 years.
If the institutions manage to agree terms, it is likely the council’s policy, finance and asset management committee could give the school the green light in June.
Building a new school beside the university playing fields is Fife Council’s preferred option for the project, which has slipped significantly in terms of both timescale and budget.
Having been anticipated to be ready in 2013 at a cost of £30 million, the new school is now set to be opened in 2014 for more than £40 million.
The partnership between the council and university, which has involved protracted talks, was likened to the royal wedding.
During a policy, finance and asset management (PFAM) committee meeting, education director Ken Greer said, “St Andrews is quite a good place for romance and where you have an engagement it sometimes takes quite a long time before you get a commitment.
“This whole process has been protracted because of its complexity. This has not been done anywhere else in the UK.”
There was a consensus among the committee that the project had stalled for long enough.
Councillor Ron Caird said impatience was growing among residents.
“There are lots of things waiting in the wings but the people of St Andrews want to get the show on the road,” he said.
Meanwhile, Councillor Kay Morrison said the “inspired idea” of a link-up between Madras and the university had suffered “set-back after set-back.”
She said, “I’m convinced that Fife Council has been committed to realising the dream and has been determined to find a reasonable arrangement that doesn’t necessarily have us paying over the odds.
“But we have reached a point at which we need to say this is the deadline.”
It was highlighted that the link-up with the university would provide much needed sports facilities in north-east Fife.
Chairing the meeting, Councillor Peter Grant agreed that it was time the project moved forward and said it would be reconsidered at the next PFAM meeting on June 16.
And he suggested that a refurbishment of the existing school at Kilrymont was still on the table.
“If we don’t have an agreement from the university at that time, we really need to look at other options,” said Mr Grant.