Why Moray Council officials are recommending AGAINST upgrade works to Buckie High School
This is despite council officers admitting the school has 'further deteriorated' and is close to becoming part of the lowest rated schools in Scotland.
Councillors have been given a number of options to decide the future of the school, but have decided to delay the decision until after a public meeting in June.
The council will also wait until after a decision to move ahead with Elgin High School's extension has been made in the autumn.
While guaranteeing 'complete transparency,' Deputy Chief Executive for education Denise Whitworth warned upgrade works could impact any future funding bids for improvements.
Officials are hesitant because if school standards improve, it risks the Scottish Government diverting funding to a different school in need of a new build.
It means any future works to Buckie High School will likely be dictated by the Scottish Government's school standards grading system.
Currently, on a scale from A to D, Buckie High is rated a 'C' in condition and 'B' in suitability. The minimum standards for both is 'B'.
This puts the school in the worst 8% of both primaries and secondaries in Scotland.
Moray Council's learning estate programme manager Andy Hall admitted there is a 'necessity' for 'substantial' investment into Buckie High School.
He told councillors 'mechanical and electrical' areas of the school have 'further deteriorated.'
He also noted issues with the school's roof and windows.
However, as a result of Moray Council's ongoing budget issues, officers admitted finding funds for school improvements is a 'significant concern.'
The council is currently unable to fund a new school for Buckie and would need financial support from the Scottish Government.
However, the government are yet to commit any more funding for new school projects.
This conundrum means officers presented several alternatives to councillors, including transferring funding from other projects such as Elgin High School's extension.
Buckie councillor Sonya Warren said the school and its additional role as a community centre has always been 'the heart of the community.'
She wants the school to remain 'top of the priority list' for a new build to afford Buckie students the same learning opportunities as 'all other upgraded schools in Moray.'
Fochabers Lhanbryde councillor Marc Macrae said it was 'disappointing' the recent Programme for Government announcement did not make any further funding available.
Meanwhile, SNP group leader Scott Lawrence said it was important to 'maximise the funding opportunities' and said any extra money the council could source for Buckie High School would be welcome.
The council has agreed to postpone any decision until after a public meeting on the 17th June and once final research into Elgin High's extension is complete.
However, councillors did agree to work together to prepare a cross-party letter to be sent to the Scottish Government, asking for a clearer picture on future school funding.
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Scotsman
14 hours ago
- Scotsman
Funding push after community set to take Scottish Borders forestry project to court
The Scottish Government's forestry agency has been accused of acting unlawfully. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A community taking a Scottish Borders forestry plantation to court is campaigning for funding to help them fight the legal battle. Save Todrig is hoping to raise £30,000 to cover legal fees to help them block a predominantly Sitka spruce forest stretching more than 500 hectares at Todrig Farm, about seven miles north of Kelso. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Campaigners said they are concerned about the impact the plantation will have on the current moorland habitat and surrounding communities. The application for the woodland scheme at Todrig was lodged by Gresham House Forest Growth and Sustainability Fund LP. | Simon Butterworth A petition was lodged claiming that Scottish Forestry, the public agency responsible for regulating forestry and distributing grants, acted unlawfully by screening out an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) in December last year and claiming there will be no significant environmental impacts before a public consultation was done. The applicant, Gresham House Forest Growth and Sustainability Fund LP, of Gresham House Ltd, applied to the agency for the EIA decision before applying for grant funding under the Forestry Grant Scheme, which would have triggered a public consultation. Campaigners accused Scottish Forestry of 'acting in secret' by making a decision on the EIA before the consultation. It meant NatureScot and RSPB among other groups who put their arguments in, which included comments claiming bird surveys were inadequate, were seen months after a decision on environment impact had already been made. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad David Lintott, of Restore Nature Ltd, the organisation behind lodging the petition, said: 'I think it is a particularly egregious case because they [Scottish Forestry] determined there will be no harms before the RSPB and organisations like Butterfly Conservation were able to put their points across, so their arguments weren't taken into account. David Lintott, of Restore Nature, which lodged a successful petition calling for a judicial review of a forestry plantation at Todrig in the Scottish Borders | Katharine Hay 'That's really poor when your dealing with such a huge area and something that is going to cause transformative change.' The planned Todrig forest would link to another proposed 700-hectare predominantly Sitka forest at Whitslaid. It means the area will see some 11 square kilometres of conifer plantations across the moorland habitat, campaigners said. The proposed schemes, which, together, would be larger than Selkirk and Hawick combined, fall into a pilot map created by Scottish Forestry for the Upper Ale area. It shows an area the agency deems suitable for planting either large scale or medium scale spruce plantations. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A pilot study carried out by Scottish Forestry for a land capacity map. The outer red line is the boundary of the pilot study and blue denotes existing plantations. Todrig and Whitslaid are marked bottom right. | Scottish Forestry Save Todrig said, with the exception of narrow areas along the main river valleys and isolated hill tops, 'pretty much everywhere is eligible for predominantly conifer plantations'. The group said, in effect, the whole area could be covered in conifers, and if extrapolated across the Scottish Borders, pretty much everywhere outside SSSIs and other protected areas. Campaigners said blanketing the area in conifer plantations will lead to 'the permanent loss of a unique rolling moorland landscape in the Scottish Borders,' which provides a natural habitat for wildlife including the red-listed black grouse and northern brown argus, which is classified as 'vulnerable' on the butterfly red list. Butterfly Conservation was recently awarded £730,000 in public funding to enhance conservation efforts for the rare butterfly, which is found in limited areas of the UK, one of those being the Scottish Borders. According to the petition, research on brown argus carried out by the charity found the 'prime threat was found to be the increasing risk of afforestation being driven by generous woodland grant incentives.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Northern brown argus butterfly | Butterfly Conservation Trust The upcoming court case comes after a successful judicial review of a plantation at Stobo Hope, also in the Scottish Borders, forced Scottish Forestry to suspend planting and a £2m grant contract they had awarded to the applicant: Forestry Carbon Sequestration Fund, which is managed by True North Real Asset Partners. The court case was triggered by warnings from Stobo Hope Action Group that hundreds of hectares of the site had been sprayed with herbicides prior to the forestry application being submitted. Scottish Forestry halted forestry work at the Stobo Hope woodland creation scheme in the Scottish Borders in September 2024. The decision came after new information about herbicide spraying at the site. | Supplied In Scottish Forestry correspondence, obtained by Freedom of Information requests, an agency staff member described the site looking like it had been 'napalmed' following the spraying. Mr Lintott, who was also involved in the Stobo Hope case, said: 'You would think they [Scottish Forestry] would be more careful after seeing that. But the fact they haven't been in the Todrig case has been disappointing and particularly concerning.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Community groups have been set up in response to the proposed forestry schemes, including the Upper Ale Water Conservation Group who met with Scottish Conservatives MP John Lamont and MSP Rachael Hamilton to discuss their concerns. MSP Racheal Hamilton meeting with members of Upper Ale Water Conservation Group | Upper Ale Water Conservation Group Speaking during a visit on Wednesday, Ms Hamilton said: 'The local community are rightly concerned by these forestry applications and the lack of scrutiny around the consultation process. 'There needs to be more accountability of Scottish Forestry to ensure that swathes of forestry are not forced upon communities against their interest. 'That's why I brought forward an amendment to the Land Reform Bill for the Scottish Government to implement an Ethical Framework for Natural Capital Investment that ensures local community have a voice, but it was shamefully voted down at stage two.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scottish Green Party candidate for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale Dominic Ashmole backed the Save Todrig petition saying it was 'a fine public service.' Scottish Green Party candidate for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale Dominic Ashmole Mr Ashmole, who was recently selected by the Greens as a South Scotland regional candidate for the upcoming Scottish Parliament election, said: 'If successful, the case could set a precedent ensuring routine and substantive EIA of proposed forestry schemes, which could steer us to a place where we have locally-led, nature-friendly, continuous cover forestry that provides a whole host of co-benefits. 'At the moment, it seems that a scary big climate target is being wielded very much as a blunt instrument, perhaps with pressured civil servants reaching for 'big corporate' solutions rather than funding communities and smaller players to create a future closer to what locals and the wider public actually want.' Gresham House insisted it adheres to regulatory standards and industry best practice across all its projects. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A spokesperson for the company said: "Community engagement is really important. 'For the Todrig proposal, we've undertaken a formal public consultation and invited feedback from statutory bodies including SEPA, NatureScot, and RSPB Scotland. "In response to early input, the current design includes a commitment to retain approximately 40 per cent of the site as open ground, primarily to support biodiversity and habitat creation. Once operational, all planting, felling, and management plans will be made publicly available - and as with any forestry project, we actively look for ways to deliver wider community benefits through improved public access, educational opportunities, and support for local initiatives.'
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Daily Record
Couple claim they shouldn't be forced to return 'priceless' bells to historic Scots church
Mark Huitson and Rachel Bonde believe they removed from Holywood Church near Dumfries are linked to the Knights Templar and had to be taken away 'as a matter of security'. A couple claim they shouldn't be forced to return 'priceless' bells to an historic church as they are among the 'most significant and valuable medieval discoveries in Scotland'. Mark Huitson and Rachel Bonde believe the bells and plaques they removed from Holywood Church near Dumfries are linked to the Knights Templar and had to be taken away 'as a matter of security'. They claim they intend to return them once the category B listed building is sold – but the council wants them put back sooner. The couple, who bought the church in 2019, lost a previous appeal to the Scottish Government against the move earlier this year. But have now made a fresh plea to Holyrood after being hit with a listed building enforcement notice as the bells still haven't been put back. Their response to the council's enforcement notice, lodged with the Scottish Government, states: 'The sole basis of the owners' removal of the bells from Holywood Church and any associated archaeology was in context of the owners' discovery of the bells' evidenced, unique, extraordinary and priceless Knights Templar attribution. 'The owners' assert their re-discovery of the bells' 12th century provenance, attached to a Templar preceptory, and its sponsor's Templar attribution is one of the most significant and valuable medieval discoveries in Scotland, the only significant provenanced Knights Templar artefacts in the world, and as such the bells should be judged and treated as artefacts of national importance.' They say the previous decisions by the council and Scottish Government were based on Historic Environment Scotland's listed building description, which only mentions 'two church bells of medieval date' which have 'special interest' to the site's history. The response adds: 'Without authoritative disavowal of the owners' attestation, and the public having access to interrogate the evidence of the bells' extraordinary and priceless Knight Templar attribution, and with no supportable counter to that discovery from those deemed the most appropriate 'experts'; returning the bells to a dilapidated property without appropriate robust security measures in keeping with the bells' historic and fiscal value would be catastrophic, in terms of protection and safety.' The couple are looking to sell the building – which they bought with planning permission to convert into a three building house – and do not plan to remove the bells permanently. However, they believe returning them before the building is sold would put the bells 'under needless and unacceptable risk'. And the response states they are looking for 'authoritative authentication of the discovery to facilitate a sale without the further misrepresentation of the historical building record'. This would also help provide an 'honest valuation' for the property. As a result, the bells 'will remain offsite as a matter of security while new owners are procured'. In their response to the appeal, the council states that 'no supporting evidence, method statement has been provided by the appellants to support the removal on health and safety grounds, with no location of the relocation of the bellsprovided'. They add: 'The serving of the enforcement notice was deemed necessary to return the bells and plaques to the church in order to preserve the features and historic interest in the category B listed church.'
Daily Record
3 days ago
- Daily Record
Scots couple win bitter row with neighbours over hedge that made lives 'misery'
Keith Smith and wife Julie were left frustrated by a row of cypress trees belonging to David Hunter and Niena Hunter Mistry in the city suburb of Prestonfield. A couple have won a bitter row with their neighbours over a hedge between their properties in Edinburgh. Keith Smith, 71, and wife Julie, 68, were left frustrated by a row of cypress trees belonging to David Hunter and Niena Hunter Mistry in the city suburb of Prestonfield. The Smiths claimed the trees were making their lives a misery and turned to the City of Edinburgh Council in a bid to have them lopped. They were left stunned when the council rejected the move but later successfully appealed to the government and the trees had to be cut to 8.5ft. But one tree remained which the Smiths insisted towered over their garden and left it in darkness. Mr Hunter turned to the Scottish Government in a bid to save his tree but that has been rejected and it will have to be lopped to 8.5ft. The row had grown increasingly bitter since 2020 with police even being involved after a disturbance was reported. In his appeal letter, Mr Hunter insisted the tree was not part of the hedge and begged for it to be kept. He said: "The individual tree identified in the varied notice cannot reasonably be said to be part of the boundary hedge. It appears as a separate individual tree and has never been trimmed. "We would be very grateful if you would take all our points and concerns into account and request that you quash the revised high hedge notice." Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. In a document to the government, the Smiths said: "The cost to the public purse must be considerable in terms of government, council and police resources. "We, the Smiths, have suffered hugely financially, emotionally and physically by this process and sincerely hope this will now lead to resolution." Mrs Smith had earlier said she was constantly 'anxious, stressed and scared' to enter her garden and claimed the conflict had impacted on her marriage. Government reporter Amanda Chisholm said: "During one period of sunshine, I observed that the disputed tree casts shadow over a significant proportion of the neighbouring property's rear garden. "In any case, the varied high hedge notice applies to the hedge as a whole, which has already been found to adversely affect this property's reasonable enjoyment. In my view the part of the hedge that has not been reduced in height continues to do so."
