The Scottish Government has refused to point the finger of blame over the dramatic collapse of a £40 million vision for a new secondary school in St Andrews.
Education Secretary Michael Russell said it had been regretful that the ambitious plan to create a new secondary school sharing facilities with St Andrews University had fallen through.
Although Fife Council is responsible for delivering education in the region Mr Russell said he would ”not point the finger.”
He said: ”What I would like to make sure is that the university continues to support the idea of a school that has the university involved with it. I want to see that and believe that would be a good thing.”
The proposed new school was considered as the favoured option by the authority. But the plan failed after a breakdown in relations between the council and university.
Mr Russell had been involved in trying to help the university and the authority reach a solution but without success.
”I regret that collaboration has not produced the result it should have produced,” he continued. ”That being said, Fife Council and the university have assured me they want to work together and I hope they will do that.”
It has been more than a decade since a plan was first tabled to replace Madras College. But it was in August and after five years of planning that the university pulled back from the project.