Council is accused of not doing its homework over school axe decision

PARENTS fighting to save their children's school from closure claim it is only facing the axe because of a series of council blunders.

Campaigners believe the city council should go "back to the drawing board" over its plans to close Westburn Primary School in Wester Hailes.

Education bosses have admitted making a series of mistakes in the consultation papers regarding the school's roll, facilities and condition of the building, which formed part of the justification for closing the school.

Although a notice has been issued to all parents to redress the errors, parents say it is too little, too late as the public consultation into the council's school closure plans ends on Tuesday.

Westburn is one of three primary schools on the hit list, along with Lismore in Bingham and Bonnington in Leith.

But campaigners believe Westburn would not be on the list if the cross-party forum selecting schools had the full facts to hand.

The two main mistakes were saying the school had the third lowest roll in the city when it has the 14th lowest, and that the condition of the building was "poor" when it is actually satisfactory.

Parent Nicky Scally said: "It is absolutely ridiculous the amount of things they had wrong. The forum has made their decision based on inaccurate information.

"I think this should go back to the drawing board and let the forum decide again with factual and up-to-date information."

The council based its information on the state of the building on a survey carried out in 2003, but since then the school has had its boilers replaced, internal lighting upgraded and a new roof.

Out of the three schools the council is proposing to send Westburn pupils to, the condition of Sighthill and Murrayburn has been rated "poor" while the third, Canal View, is rated "good".

Mrs Scally added: "They have spent £750,000 on Westburn in the last few years and now they are wanting to waste all that money by closing the school. They are wanting us to send our children to schools in a poor state of repair. I find that really distasteful."

Sighthill and Gorgie councillor Eric Milligan said: "It's clear that they have not been thorough and not been particularly sensitive.

"When you put all the mistakes together, it's clear that the consultation process is fatally flawed. The true position wasn't made available and this is inexcusable."

Director of education Gillian Tee said: "Some inaccuracies have been identified and amended in the original consultation paper for Westburn Primary school.

"The amended paper still meets the criteria used by the forum to recommend schools to be considered for closure.

"The criteria used were levels of attainment; how many parents choose their local school; and costs per pupil and occupancy levels.

"I am confident that our consultation process is rigorous, open and transparent."