£3.6m Gaelic school plan questioned

Published on Friday 24 June 2011 20:07

THE national Gaelic development agency has questioned whether a planned dedicated language school in Edinburgh can go ahead after the costs rose by more than £2 million.

Brd na Gidhlig (BnG), also called on the city council to explain how it got its sums wrong.

It is proposed to set up the new school in the former Bonnington Primary, empty since 2008. But the council says refurbishment would cost 3.6 million, rather than 1.6 million as previously thought, due to vandalism and damage to the roof.

Officials are now seeking extra money from the government, which has already offered 1.4 million to bring the building back into use.

BnG said Bonnington was a listed building and parents and others were astonished the council had not maintained it.

Arthur Cormack, BnG's chairman, said: "It is now clear that the extent to which officials of the city council were unable to accurately predict the costs of renovation has, at best, delayed progress and, at worst, threatened the whole proposal."

In a letter to council leader Jenny Dawe, he said the council needed to show "how this extremely unfortunate turn of events occurred".