Plans for replacement Aberdeenshire primary school in South Formartine get go-ahead

Councillors have voted to move ahead with plans to build a replacement school at Foveran that could accommodate up to 300 pupils.

Aberdeenshire Council had been working on proposals to improve educational provision in South Formartine.

School roll forecasts revealed that between 240 to 300 new primary places could be needed in the area in the near future.

Officers came up with two final options – replace Foveran School or build an additional school at Balmedie.

The existing Foveran facility has capacity for 47 pupils.

It has 45 youngsters (96%) at the moment but within the next five years that number is expected to hit 86 (182%).

Council bosses say there is no room for an extension but positive discussions for a potential new school site have been held with a local landowner.

Meanwhile Balmedie can accommodate 484 pupils – its current school roll is 398 (82%).

The council had proposed that the second school would be built to the south of the village with capacity for 300 pupils.

Members of the Formartine area committee gave mixed opinions on the proposals when they met last month.

Their views went before the education and children’s services committee this morning.

Councillors were also asked which of the two options they wanted to see move to a business case stage.

Committee chairwoman, councillor Gillian Owen, said the proposals “represent the best possible outcomes for our area”.

However she held her option that Balmedie was “too small a settlement to merit any additional primary school” and urged the committee to move ahead with the plans for Foveran.

But councillor Louise McAllister suggested that no business cases be made at all.

She claimed the two proposals didn’t meet the requirement for community placemaking.

Mrs McAllister asked for the council’s director of education to bring forward an options report on educational provision in Blackdog instead.

She explained: “With 600 plus houses planned in there and potentially more, for me it seems untenable that we’re not planning a site for education within that settlement.

“That will leave buses, transport and no sense of cohesion and identity as part of that school and surrounding area.”

After going to a vote, the option to move ahead with a new school at Foveran received 11 votes to five.