Lessons not learned on security at old school

Images of the abandoned classrooms, corridors and gym halls of the former Curriehill Primary were posted on YouTube, showing how run down the building has become in the three years it has been empty.

Scenes show evidence of natural dilapidation and vandalism, sparking new concerns about the security of the site.

The pictures also show dozens of items of disused school furniture, including chairs, tables, gym equipment and even a piano, which critics say should have been stored elsewhere or offered to charity instead of being left in the abandoned building.

The person who posted the images on the website claims to have gained access to the building in a "nighttime job".

Local residents say the school has been plagued by vandalism since it shut in 2007 to make way for a new Currie Primary.

Council bosses were forced to increase security at the school in 2008 after reports youths were using it as a drinking den.

However, the problems have persisted, and last August a teenage boy narrowly escaped injury in a fire in an outhouse.

Graham Bryce, secretary of Currie Community Council, said: "There have been incidents over the past couple of years. People get on the roof and you can hear them trashing the place.

"All the windows have had to be boarded up because they've all been smashed but there are still so many ways to get in."

Pentland Hills councillor Ricky Henderson said: "I'm very disappointed that having previously raised concerns about safety and security issues at this building it would appear that lessons have not been learned."

After viewing the YouTube footage of inside the building, he added: "I'm astonished that so much furniture and other equipment has been left in the school and much of it is now badly damaged. What a waste.

"Items could have been stored or offered to charities, who could have put them to good use.

David Miles Hanschell, a former teacher, said he would happily take the furniture and send it to Third World nations.

Mr Hanschell, who runs an organisation called Surplus Educational Supplies, which sends school equipment to developing nations, and has a base in Granton, said:

"It's appalling that this amount of furniture will end up going to landfill and nobody has thought about what we could do with it.

"I've been in contact with the Nicaraguan embassy and they are desperate for this kind of stuff, it just take a bit of joined-up thinking."

A spokesman for the council said: "We are currently considering offers for the site following a closing date last week.

"It is concerning, however, that someone appears to have got into this building without permission.

"The building has been made secure and we are aware of its condition."