Thursday 21 November 2024
 4.6°C   NE Fresh Breeze
Ocean Kinetics - The Engineering Experts

News / Blueprint in disarray as primaries are saved

Protesters hung a banner on the stairs of Lerwick Town Hall on Wednesday morning. Photo: Shetnews

SHETLAND Islands Council has voted decisively against shutting two primary schools in Northmavine and removed the threat of closure from a further two small communities.

Elected members voted 12-9 to keep the tiny North Roe primary open, and by a decisively 18-3 margin to maintain Urafirth primary – going against the recommendations of the local authority’s children’s services department.

Immediately after taking those decisions on Wednesday, and with tempers running high among some councillors, members unanimously agreed to abandon planned consultations on shutting primaries in Burravoe and Sandness.

Political leader Gary Robinson said he saw little point consulting on schools with “more populous rolls” because he did not want to “waste any more” of officials’ time. Instead he wants staff to focus on getting the new Anderson High School built (see video interview below).

The news was greeted with delight by relieved Northmavine parents who had protested passionately against the closures. The council cannot attempt to shut those schools again for at least five years.

But it leaves the SIC’s much-maligned “blueprint for education” exercise – designed to shed millions of pounds from its budget – virtually in tatters.

Consultations on shutting or reducing provision in several secondaries are due to begin in 2015, but on Wednesday morning Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael and MSP Tavish Scott called for the council to abandon those too.

Scott said it was time to put an end to “damaging and divisive closure consultation hanging over pupils, parents and schools”. Yesterday SNP Highlands and Islands list MSP Mike MacKenzie called for a five-year moratorium on closures, describing the process as “irretrievably blighted”.

Education officials argued that pupils from North Roe and Urafirth would benefit from being taught in a larger, amalgamated school with more children of the same age.

Become a member of Shetland News

 

But Shetland North councillor Andrea Manson said the small schools offered “wonderful learning opportunities”. She claimed losing them would “rip the heart out of” the remote areas, making them much less attractive places for young people to settle and start a family.

After three hours of questioning and cordial debate in Lerwick Town Hall, tempers frayed following the vote.

Shetland South councillor Duncan branded his colleagues “gutless” and “cowards” who were afraid of making difficult decisions. He called for deputy leader Billy Fox and education and families committee vice chairman George Smith to resign.

Smith responded by saying he was “not going to rise” to Duncan’s comments, but he felt it was important to respect the committee’s decision.

The committee’s chairwoman Vaila Wishart said closing schools was a “very emotional subject and we’re never going to get anywhere with rational arguments”.

Because there was “absolutely no appetite from any member” of her committee to shut Urafirth, she didn’t even propose going ahead with that closure. Wishart said this council was following the pattern of previous ones and “losing our bottle” halfway through.

Northmavine has three primary schools serving a population of over 800. Officials had proposed shutting North Roe and Urafirth and educating all of the area’s pupils in Ollaberry from August 2015, resulting in annual savings of £156,000.

Officials said there was space for 68 pupils at North Roe, which is operating at 7-8 per cent capacity. Urafirth had room for 52 pupils and is at 25 per cent capacity, while Ollaberry could accommodate 59 pupils and is at 24 per cent occupation. Lerwick member Allan Wishart noted that meant there were six times as many places as pupils in the three schools.

While secondary education spending is much higher than in comparable islands, in 2012/13 the average primary pupil in Shetland cost £8,527 to educate – similar to Western Isles (£8,516) and Orkney (£8,132). The national average is £4,751 per pupil.

Robinson had reminded members that in 2012/13 the SIC received £29.5 million from the Scottish Government for spending on education, but actually spent £48.5 million.

Education official Audrey Edwards said the schools service would have to go back and look at what cuts to make, but it was already “quite a lean service” and head teachers are “quite battle-weary and concerned for the future if we have to take more from them”.

With lots of efficiencies in areas like cleaning, support staff and teaching resources already having been made, Lerwick councillor Amanda Westlake was worried about the impact of any further cuts.

Lerwick South member Jonathan Wills felt one primary school for the catchment area seemed reasonable. He accused those defending the schools of talking “well-meaning waffle” and failing to come up with alternative savings measures.

Wills was dismayed at members taking “irrational, emotional” and “shameful” decisions. “We cannot afford to continue to run lots of small schooles,” he said. “Is that really complicated? Apparently it’s too complicated for our education committee.”

When Wills said he would not be seeking re-election in 2017, it prompted the loudest stamps of approval from parents watching proceedings upstairs in the town hall.

Councillors on both sides of the debate again offered warm praise to Edwards and other staff for their hard work, knowledge and expertise.

But with their professional advice being ignored by councillors, Wills said he wouldn’t blame education officials if they got on the phone to Petrofac for a more comfortable job where they wouldn’t have to work with “such idiots”.

During questioning, Edwards confirmed the blueprint for education had cost the council just short of £640,000 since 2008.

After the meeting, Mrs Manson said: “I think the blueprint was never realistic in that there always had to be far too many cuts made, cuts that the communities couldn’t accept, and cuts the county can’t afford.” 

She added: “There is an awful lot of positive things that have come out of this as well as all the negativity, the stress, the strain and the worries that all the bairns and the community have had.

“One of the positive things is the realisation that the council doesn’t have an open cheque book anymore and in the future the community have to do things for themselves. It motivated us all into coming together as a community and working on some interesting projects to get them off the ground.”

Earlier in the morning much of the debate mirrored the three-hour session at the previous day’s committee meetingThere was further wrangling over the disputed travel time for pupils going from North Roe to Ollaberry.

Officials were “confident” the journey could be done within 40 minutes, but councillor Manson and her Shetland North colleague Alastair Cooper strongly disputed that. The area’s third memeber, Drew Ratter, was the only councillor absent from the meeting.

The 12 councillors who voted to keep North Roe open were: Mark Burgess, Peter Campbell, Gary Cleaver, Alastair Cooper, Steven Coutts, Billy Fox, Robert Henderson, Andrea Manson, Frank Robertson, George Smith, Theo Smith and Michael Stout.

The nine in favour of closure were: Malcolm Bell, Allison Duncan, Gary Robinson, Davie Sandison, Cecil Smith, Amanda Westlake, Jonathan Wills, Allan Wishart and Vaila Wishart.

Only Wills, Duncan and Allan Wishart voted in favour of shutting Urafirth.

Become a member of Shetland News

Shetland News is asking its many readers to consider paying for membership to get additional features and services: -

  • Remove non-local ads;
  • Bookmark posts to read later;
  • Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
  • Hide membership messages;
  • Comments open for discussion.

If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.

 
Categories
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 

Newsletters

Subscribe to a selection of different newsletters from Shetland News, varying from breaking news delivered on the minute, to a weekly round-up of the opinion posts. All delivered straight to your inbox.

Daily Briefing Newsletter Weekly Highlights Newsletter Opinion Newsletter Life in Shetland Newsletter

JavaScript Required

We're sorry, but Shetland News isn't fully functional without JavaScript enabled.
Head over to the help page for instructions on how to enable JavaScript on your browser.

Your Privacy

We use cookies on our site to improve your experience.
By using our service, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

Browser is out-of-date

Shetland News isn't fully functional with this version of .
Head over to the help page for instructions on updating your browser for more security, improved speed and the best overall experience on this site.

Interested in Notifications?

Get notifications from Shetland News for important and breaking news.
You can unsubscribe at any time.

Have you considered becoming a member of Shetland News?

If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please consider paying for membership and get the following features and services: -

  • Remove non-local ads;
  • Bookmark posts to read later;
  • Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
  • Hide membership messages;
  • Comments open for discussion.