Granton Primary School

Tonight I met with representatives from the Granton Primary School Parents Council to provide feedback on a recent meeting with Gillian Tee about the plans to relocate the school.

Originally agreed through community consultation it is an important element in a package of measures to regenerate Royston/Wardieburn. The planned rebuild is intended to create a school that is a shared facility linking the 'old' Granton with the 'new' waterfront.

The other elements are all well in hand namely, the refurbishment of Royston Primary School, the replacement of the Royston/Wardieburn Community Centre and the creation of a new supported housing complex in Royston Mains Crescent to allow for the demolition of sheltered housing at Granton Crescent which is intended as the site for the new school.

The purpose of my meeting with Ms Tee was to establish that with £1 million committed and the approximate £3 million + value of the current school site already in the pot, that the balance of £4 million would be committed in the the forthcoming 3 years capital budget.

I am sorry I had to report bad news to the Granton parents.

A big factor in Ms Tee's downbeat assessment was due to the Scottish Government's failure thus far to identify an alternative source of funding to PPP and obviously Granton PS is not unique in this regard. More worryingly though, was the emerging possibility of a reprioritisation of projects which could downgrade Granton from 'new build' to 'refurbishment'. This would be extremely disadvantageous for several reasons:

...£1 million won't go far in refurbishing a big, old fashioned building when even the quote to refurbish the playground and replace the perimeter fencing is estimated at £100k+

...with two or even 3 new primary schools to the north (on the waterfront); with the emerging possibility of a replacement building for Wardie Primary School to the east; with a fully refurbished Royston PS with a new community wing to the west, Granton would be in a poor position to compete in future for pupils

...failure to proceed punches a big hole in community aspirations for a revitalised Granton

The parents received the news with the same dismay I felt and are preparing themselves to campaign ...