PHS and St Johns: Questions for COEC and/or our ER's

[Stephen McIntyre]

There is clearly a desire and need for more information about the rebuilding of the schools and of course the Schools in the Park is far from a given. And questions should not solely relate to that project. I thought I would unilaterally start a thread for questions that you would like an answer to. We can run the thread for 7 to 10 days collate and then present the questions to the horse's mouth, give them some time and duly publish their answers.

I don't see this as a discussion thread but no doubt tangents may occur.

Here are my starters for 2:

Will the proposal to relocate the schools to Portobello park include the Powerleague in any shape or form?

If there is to be housing on the GC site can we be certain that it shall be minimised and ALL of the profit be ringfenced for remodelling of Portobello Park, to include the new schools?

[Dadaist]

Are the community to be merely consulted or actually involved in this project?

If the comments and wishes of the community are genuinely going to be taken on board - how will this particular process work?

[Epykat]

Why has the Council gone ahead and purchased green belt land for a new golf course when the Community have not yet been consulted on whether or not it wants one?

How much money will be spent in total on purchasing the land and building a new golf course?

[Dave Connelly]

Why has the Council gone ahead and purchased green belt land for a new golf course when the Community have not yet been consulted on whether or not it wants one?

How much money will be spent in total on purchasing the land and building a new golf course?

They haven't bought it yet, no deal has been struck, Tina Sutherland at the council appears to know whats going on, try getting in touch with her.

[Epykat]

Somebody asked me this question today.

How many pupils will the new High School hold? Will it be able to accommodate the 1400ish we have now or will it only hold, say, 1200 with the extra numbers from Gilberstoun/Newcraighall etc having to go to Castlebrae?

[Alison Connelly]

..

[Gemini]

Why has the Council gone ahead and purchased green belt land for a new golf course when the Community have not yet been consulted on whether or not it wants one?

How much money will be spent in total on purchasing the land and building a new golf course?

They haven't bought it yet, no deal has been struck, Tina Sutherland at the council appears to know whats going on, try getting in touch with her.

By all accounts(MChild, PCC meeting Monday 27th Feb.) advised, they have already purchased the land for the 'new golf course'. No info on how much they paid for it as yet.
COEC appears not to have wasted much time over this purchase, which I find quite unsettling

[Brenda]

The following 'indications' by a reliable 'council source' may help answer some of the questions on this thread. It will appear in the article on this topic in the Portobello Reporter, due out next week.

"THE Council has announced that it proposes building a new Portobello High School and St John's Primary on around one-third of Portobello Golf Course, and developing the present school sites for housing, to finance the new buildings. A new and larger golf course would be created on land in the Brunstane area, along with some housing.
Although precise details of the projects have not been established, a Council source has also indicated that they propose developing a possible further third of the park area for housing, leaving one third of the whole site as public open space. They said there is no hope in the foreseeable future of alternative PPP funding by the Scottish Executive, and that all money from the development of all the pieces of land will be used to build the schools and enhance sporting facilities in the area. They also indicated that the majority of local councillors would be against the inclusion of the 5-a-side pitches in the present proposal."


[For clarification, the council would not sell the land to a private developer, but would develop it through their own development arm EDI, sell the houses and use the profits for the proposed new buildings.]

[Libby]

Good Evening all

As this is not a board for threads and storeys, to me it seems a thread where people are either asking for information or people are giving information. I would like to give this bit of information.

This information is also from a very reliable source from within the Chambers.

Please mark the date 25th April in your Diary's as this is the date for the proposals to be Rubber Stamped and then given the Go ahead

I shall come back and say "See i told you So".

[Epykat]

Thanks for that bit of info Libby. Unfortunately it won't come as too much of a surprise to most of us!

[Poppy]

Good Evening all

As this is not a board for threads and storeys, to me it seems a thread where people are either asking for information or people are giving information. I would like to give this bit of information.

This information is also from a very reliable source from within the Chambers.

Please mark the date 25th April in your Diary's as this is the date for the proposals to be Rubber Stamped and then given the Go ahead

I shall come back and say "See i told you So".

This information is not such a surprise - FAQ on the School thread

A report is due to go to the Council on 25 April. Following this report informal consultation with the local community would take place before undertaking any formal statutory consultation.

[Bob Jefferson]

Although there is a huge difference in the way this information has been interpreted.

Believe me, if those of us who support the proposal thought (or knew) that it was a 'done deal' just waiting to be 'rubber-stamped' then we wouldn't waste our time trying to convince others of our cause.

[Libby]

Hi All

Believe me, the papers will have already been drawn up and sitting on a desk in MR ...... office. The Consultation process is just a formality, they will say all the things that they want you to believe, they will tell you they will go away and see if something else can be worked out and sorted, but they know that it is just a case of putting a stamp on that piece of paper.

Even if the public outcry was that strong and it eventually went to a decision through the full council the vote would not go the way these people would hope it would go.

You will get some councillors against, but as Labour is the ruling party and the have more councillors, I can assure you No one would Break the whip even if they were against the idea.

The 3 Councillors that broke the whip on the Closure of Lismore Primary School were severely punished, and every councillor was warned that if that ever happened again they would be shown the door.

I really wish those that are against it all the best and you will have a big fight on your hands, Me personally i am for Building a new School as soon as possible and if it has to be on a Golf Course then so be it, i suppose the people from the Golf course have a right to object because the Bottom line is, No matter where ever they chose to put the New School there would have been Complaints Regardless.

Kind Regards! Libby

PS Sorry this is not the right place for this thread and i have gone on a bit . Also Poppy i did not say a report would go on the 25th as in your quote, this is common knowledge to all on this board and half the people in the country, what i printed was that it would be rubbered stamped this being my reliable source within the Chambers. A slight difference, would you not agree.

[Green Dream]

Has anyone thought about how many houses could potentially be built on 1/3 of the site? From my calculations it could be around 200-300 properties. What is going to happen with the infrastructure, the traffic will be terrible. With all this additional traffic would it be a safe place for 1500 or so kids? The location is not ideal, next to a main road (A1) with traffic moving at 40mph plus! The school will have to accommodate all these extra children along with the additional pupils from the housing built on the old site.