Dunbar Primary School

Written by Cllr Jacquie Bell and published in Letter to Editor, East Lothian Courier on Thu 17th Dec 2009

Dear Sir

I refer to the letter from former Cllr Jarvie regarding the downsizing of the new school and his suggestion that I am putting party politics before the community I represent. He says I voted to cheapen a much needed educational facility in the ward.

His views very much simplify a complex situation regarding the planning of the new school.

The initial need for the bigger school came after years of new housing developments in Dunbar without planning for necessary infrastructure. With projected school rolls in 2007 Dunbar Primary was heading to be the biggest primary school in the Western hemisphere.

Thus plans were formed for the new school. The initial plans took on board the need to allow for 500 new houses in the town. Those plans were agreed when the housing market was buoyant. Since then the recession has hit house building across the UK. New houses recently built in Dunbar remain empty.

A development brief has been debated for the new housing area. Cllr Hampshire tried to hold this up by suggesting that the Cabinet needed a site visit. However, the brief was agreed by Cabinet. Without the agreement of the brief other planning at the site could not be determined. An outline planning application has been submitted by the developer at Halhill which still needs to be determined. Outline planning permission is different to detailed planning applications which are still some time ahead and thus the building of new houses is some time off - perhaps a couple of years or more.

Without the guarantee of when new houses will come on stream it is not a good idea to progress with the bigger school and have empty classrooms. The reduced size of school allows for the houses which are already built or have planning permission.

The new school is needed for Autumn term 2011 and so it was important to make a decision and build the school needed for the altered projected roll. Cllr Hampshire stalled this by calling in the plans to planning committee for what on the day were not material planning issues e.g. the maintenance of the green roof and internal layout.

A particular issue is the developer contributions required towards the bigger school. At present these are not agreed. Negotiations with the developer are ongoing. The developer contribution concerned here is very considerable (into millions). The Council could not ask for the payment retrospectively. It would be a big risk for the Council to take to build the larger school without the developer contributions. I'm sure parents would rather have teachers in the classroom that are needed rather than mothballed classrooms. To pay for the larger school without developer contributions would hit other areas of the Education budget hard.

The games hall is also needing a developer contribution for the larger size. School reps have said that the larger hall is not needed for educational purposes. Former Cllr Jarvie says that letting the hall could give income to the PTA -methinks income from lets would go elsewhere.

Over the years there have been regular meetings with council officials, the 3 local councillors and Cabinet member for Education and representatives from the Community Council and Parent Council. There have been a number of public meetings. Generally the public have understood the logic behind changes in the plans.

I trust the public will see that I have been acting in the interests of the community I serve rather than playing politics with education. I did not think it wise to spend millions more than needed for a school bigger than required.

Negotiations with the developer are ongoing. If they are willing to fund the developer contribution up front so well and good. However, I am not happy to risk taxpayer money to serve schemes that are not yet agreed.

Yours sincerely

Cllr Jacquie Bell (Mrs)

Liberal Democrat

Dunbar East Linton Ward