A war of words has erupted between Fife Council and St Andrews University after the collapse of £40 million plans for a new Fife school.
Years of planning ended in failure this week when the long-cherished dream to build a school, sharing facilities with the university, was shelved.
Senior councillors have laid the blame squarely at the feet of university chiefs, insisting that they had “lost focus”.
However, officials at the university have quickly hit back.
A spokesman said, “St Andrews has worked hard to become one of the leading universities in the world.
“We have not achieved this by losing focus.”
University chiefs insisted they had called time on the proposals because there was “no end in sight” to protracted negotiations.
Any dream of future collaboration between the authority and the university were in jeopardy last night as serious allegations regarding the failure of the project began to fly.
Depute council leader Elizabeth Riches blasted “the way the university attempts to conduct business” while Tay Bridgehead councillor Maggie Taylor accused university chiefs of “wanting everything on their terms.”
Meanwhile, The Courier can reveal that the shelving of the preferred option has come at a considerable cost, with £140,000 spent on design consultancy fees alone since last April.’Severe financial circumstances’Mrs Riches did not hold back in her criticism of university officials.
“It appears that the university has lost its focus… and this has made it almost impossible for Fife Council to engage meaningfully,” she told The Courier.
“Time and again the university changed its mind as to which piece of land it might consider suitable for the new Madras school.
“Fife Council is disappointed that the necessary land was not available for a mutually agreed price.”
North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell said: “If the university and council had been able to reach agreement on this ambitious project it would have been of great benefit to the community.
“I have no doubt that they both have strived to find a way forward but it is worthy of note that the university and the council face very severe financial circumstances which I am sure played a significant part in their negotiations.
“There should now be no delay in proceeding with the Kilrymont option.”
Mrs Riches said the council had bent over backwards to accommodate the university’s demands.
She said: “Each time the university changed its mind on the area of land available, Fife Council chief officers had to patiently and painstakingly work out if it would be possible to build a school on the suggested site.
“I have been dismayed and disappointed by the manner in which the university attempts to conduct business.”
However Mrs Riches said there was still a bright future for secondary education in St Andrews.’Very disappointed’She said: “Even though the university is withdrawing from this project, Fife Council will still be able to build its best school yet at Kilrymont.
“I am determined and confident that this will be done as soon as possible.
“We have promised a new school and we will deliver a new school.”
Ms Taylor was similarly critical of the university.
She said: “I am very disappointed… a great and unique opportunity has been lost.
“Lots of hard work has gone into the negotiations but it always seemed to me as if the university kept moving the goalposts and they wanted everything on their terms.”
Ms Taylor pledged to push for the Kilrymont option to be taken forward “as fast as possible.”
She also rubbished any suggestion that the death of the latest plan could lead to fresh calls for a new school in the Tay Bridgehead area.
She said: “Demographics show that pupil numbers are falling fast and we would shortly end up with two half-empty schools.
“There is also the question of parental choice and with both Madras and Bell Baxter (in Cupar) having recently received glowing reports on their teaching, it would be extremely difficult for a new school to establish a reputation and hold on to pupils.”
She added: “Those that propose two schools might also inform us how they will get the finance to do so.
“Those advocating a new Tay Bridgehead school might also tell us exactly where this would be located as wherever that might be would involve land purchase and all the problems that involves.”
Opposition education spokeswoman Kay Morrison said: “Like St Andrews University principal Dr Louise Richardson, I’m very disappointed in the university’s failure to agree terms with Fife Council on building a school which would have had shared facilities and resources, realising the sort of collaboration which would benefit many fortunate young people and the community.
“The ‘ambitious vision’ was, indeed, pursued for several years, at great expense to the public purse.”
She added, “I’m surprised to learn that the university has lost patience with the council, for I had been told that the remaining difficulty was concerned with land value whether the sites owned by council and university are, indeed, of similar value.
“I take no comfort in having my fears confirmed the proposal was creative, imaginative, maybe even inspired, but perhaps it accumulated too much significance at the expense of reality.
“Maybe its gestation should have been more responsibly time-limited?”
A university spokesman insisted they had pulled out of negotiations after the initial vision for the school became “irrevocably diluted.”
He said: “With all due respect to Councillor Riches, St Andrews has worked hard to become one of the leading universities in the world.
“We have not achieved this by losing focus.’Irrevocably diluted'”The facts will show that our vision had always been for a school at the heart of the university, with integrated and shared services and close academic links.”
He added: “Regrettably, over the course of protracted negotiations and repeated changes of emphasis by the council, the original vision for a new school physically and academically bound with us had become substantially and irrevocably diluted.”
“The new Madras had become little more than a land deal for a site disconnected from the town and the university, with minimal sharing of facilities and services.
“This was no longer the proud plan which we hoped would allow St Andrews and Fife to set a new benchmark in education and it would have been misleading to parents and pupils to pretend otherwise.”
The spokesman said the university wished the council “every success” as it seeks to create a new Madras.
It is understood senior council officials will meet parents of pupils at Madras and feeder schools next week.
The meeting will “address the options and choices” for the new school.
Parent-teacher council chairman John Barnett said parents were eager to learn more about the council’s plans for a new school, saying it was “long-overdue.”