Anger over £250k bill to protect shut schools

Published on Monday 28 September 2009 11:07

COUNCIL bosses are set to spend more than £250,000 in just one year protecting three empty schools which they shut in the last round of school closures.

A total of 150,000 was spent initially on boarding up and securing Lismore, Westburn and Bonnington primaries, while a further 108,000 has to be spent every year that the schools lie empty to protect the buildings from vandalism and break-ins.

Despite the huge bill, three men have this month been charged by police for stealing lead from Bonnington Primary in Leith.

Lismore and Bonnington were closed last Christmas by council bosses, while Westburn shut before the summer holidays.

The original plan was to sell off the land, which would have brought in a total of 5.8 million.

However, the economic downturn means the schools have remained unsold and empty since they closed.

The council have instead only saved 1m so far from closing the schools in staffing and running costs.

Parents fighting plans to stop four schools being shut in the latest round of closures are furious that such a large amount of money is being spent on empty buildings when the council's argument for closing schools is to save money.

Council bosses want to close Royston, Fort, Drumbrae and Burdiehouse next summer in a bid to save more than 1m a year in staffing and running costs and bring in a further 2.4m in land sales.

Grant Cunningham, chair of Royston Primary's parent council, said: "They are not saving money because they are going to have to put it into securing the buildings. The council has already admitted that it's not viable in this market to sell schools so why close more schools just to leave them sitting empty?

"Everybody knows there's problems this side of Edinburgh with vandalism and the community has worked hard with the police to put things right and progress has been made."

Vikki Spence, member of the Fighting for Fort campaign group, added: "It's a ridiculous amount of money to keep paying out. I'm shocked that something that's supposed to be saving money is continuing to cost money."

Leith councillor Gordon Munro said he was "disappointed" that despite the money being ploughed into paying for security, Bonnington school has fallen victim to thieves.

He added: "Part of the argument for closing schools is the cost so hearing this makes it harder for parents who are going through this process now to understand why the council wants to close their schools."

Council bosses say there are negotiations currently underway on the future of Bonnington Primary and Westburn, which could become a community learning and development campus.

City education leader Councillor Marilyne MacLaren said: "We have been able to save 1 million every year as a result of the closure of these schools.

"Of course, having closed the schools we must secure them because they are assets of the city. These measures also help to keep otherwise expensive insurance premiums down."