CONCERNS FROM PARENTS over Moray Council plans for a temporary new school in Elgin are increasing as the date for crunch consultation meetings approaches.
Parents have already been hitting out at plans to create the temporary new school on the grounds of the existing East End Primary.
Moray Council has laid out their ideas to create the new school immediately by using the former Heritage Centre premises at East End as temporary accommodation, with a view to the pupils housed there eventually moving to a new building, probably on a site at Linkwood Road.
Consultations with parents are to take place over two sessions at Elgin Town Hall on January 6, the first at 2pm and again at 6.30pm – however, many are already insisting that the idea of a temporary new school within the existing East End Primary is not required.
Ahead of the meetings a concerned parent who did not wish to be named said: “I have listened to the [Moray Council] webcast and the responses to questions posed and it does seem that this proposal will be pushed on.
“We need to absolutely kick up a stink about the traffic congestion and impractical nature of a large coach/bus clogging up the already overused side roads. But are we missing the point here?
“Should we at East End Primary not be insisting that these new “50” pupils for the 2016 intake become East End pupils – what we need to do is completely quash the idea of housing a separate school within our grounds using shared facilities.
“Several times throughout the webcast they admitted that families will be split and disrupted whatever they do, and with whatever action they take. Fair enough, build a brand spanking new school and call it ‘Linkwood’ – but until that building is up and running as a full primary school then it shouldn’t exist in any other manner.
“The result, East End gets the old Heritage centre converted into classrooms again – which councillors admitted they will need for the future predicted roll numbers at East End. There are no issues with shared facilities because we are all East End. It also means there’s no expense of building an entranceway and office for this ‘new school’.”
Concerned parents are being urged to ensure their voices are heard at the consultation meetings with many voicing their concerns through the East End School Parent Council page on Facebook.