Stop! Labour step in with bid to delay decision on Vale schools’ future

March 2, 2018 – An eleventh-hour move has been made by the Labour group on West Dunbartonshire Council to delay any decision of the future of closure-threatened St Martin’s PS in Renton.

The DEMOCRAT can reveal exclusively that Labour will ask the SNP administration at the Educational Services Committee on March 7 to keep St Martin’s in the discussion of the future of the whole Alexandria schools estate.

There had been moves by the administration to separate them out and discuss only the future of St Mary’s in Alexandria, Renton Primary School and other accommodation for pupils currently being provided in Vale of Leven.

But Labour want the SNP to put the brakes on and have asked the committee to agree that any options paper on the future educational provision concerning Alexandria schools’ estate must include all educational establishments that have a material concern in any decision taken at this meeting.

That in order to ensure that all options are given the appropriate consideration that St Martin’s must be included in any deliberations.

And to postpone any discussions on the future educational provision in Alexandria until the education department have completed the engagement they requested with parents and carers from St Martin’s.

Their amendment will say: “As has been highlighted by the education department, works are not expected to be completed on the building of new facilities until 2020 and we feel that delaying a decision on the future of the Alexandria schools estate for two months until the education department are in a position to provide an accurate assessment of all options open for all our Alexandria school estate will have no detrimental effect on completion timelines.”

Labour consider it more important “to get this right than to rush this through”.

What has been prepared so far, they maintain, is “an incomplete options analysis of our schools’ estate in Alexandria”.

Any decision should be deferred until the education department has had the opportunity to complete their engagement with parents and carers.

This would allow “everyone at a future meeting of the education committee to make a fully informed decision”.