An SNP bid to get Dunfermline councillors to encourage a council rethink over closure-threatened Pitcorthie Primary has failed despite backing from Labour MSP Cara Hilton.
Councillor Brian Goodall, seconded by Councillor Neale Hanvey, asked fellow members on the City of Dunfermline area committee to urge next week’s executive committee to withdraw the proposal to close the school and its nursery.
Mr Goodall claimed the education service’s own closure consultation paper said the Dunfermline school had not met any of the council’s guiding principles identified in the school estate review.
“I am asking committee today to express its concern about the conclusion reached in the report on the consultation and to confirm that we feel that no case has been made for the closure of the school.”
He said the committee would not be alone in doing so, as the education scrutiny committee had already called for a further investigation to be carried out.
The closure plans was a contentious issue during the Dunfermline by-election as the SNP and Labour candidates debated the issue.
However, Mr Hanvey said he hoped everyone had moved beyond that now and the debate was not about political colours but about doing the right thing for the children of Dunfermline.
“Last week we had a discussion about Madras and I think everybody in that room could be proud of the fact they voted with their heads and hearts and took the right decision.”
Here, he added, the arguments for closure were evaporating.
Mrs Hilton agreed, saying: “This isn’t about party politics, it is about the best outcome for the children and their parents.”
She said Pitcorthie “should not even be on the table”.
Fellow Labour councillor Willie Campbell moved an amendment to ask the executive in line with the unanimous recommendation of the scrutiny committee to give full consideration in reaching its decision to the structural condition andlong-term future of the building and the school roll projections.
He said the closure plans were no criticism of the school and acknowledged it does “excellent work”, but he had concerns over structural problems at Pitcorthie.
“My heart goes out to people in this situation, but I think as councillors we have a responsibility to look at it with our heads not our hearts.”
Committee chairwoman Helen Law reminded councillors that the previous administration in 2010 had said the school’s structural issues had to be addressed in two to five years. The motion was defeated by seven to four.