Momentous vote on new Mull school denied

After a year of debate, Argyll and Bute councillors agreed to build Mull’s new school campus in Tobermory again, in line with officers’ recommendations, but against community wishes.

 

Councillors met on March 7 to decide a preferred option for a 2-18 campus, replacing the delapidated high school in Tobermory, Mull’s largest settlement, in the north west.

 

Mull has a population of 3,000, with 178 secondary school aged pupils. Children in the south, currently 16 per cent, are excluded from the island’s secondary school, and weekly-board in Oban.

 

Officers presented four sites: the current school site in Tobermory, ’Tobermory South’ on the Baliscate Industrial Estate, and two central locations in Garmony and Craignure. ’Tobermory South’ topped the recommendations, followed by Craignure. 

 

None are a ’one size fits all’ solution. Islanders hoped the north/south divide could be avoided via a ’split-site’ solution, with a primary school and early learning centre in Tobermory, and a secondary school in Craignure. In a Mull Community Council survey, 63 per cent of 665 respondents preferred this option. 

 

However, the council deemed it "unaffordable" due to the £11-12.5 million extra cost, and confirmed no further funding was available from the Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP).

 

At Friday’s crunch meeting, a deputation of islanders, Tracy Mayo, Emily Greenhalgh and Annemarie Mailey, called for a pause.

 

Ms Mayo said: "The approach taken by your council officers to this proposal disadvantaged our community. There have been missteps along the way."

 

Quoting islanders in the south, Ms Mailey said: "To accept the status quo is to accept the continuing decline of the Ross of Mull. Families will continue to leave until there are no carers, no nurses, no volunteer firemen, no shops, and most tragically, no families."

 

Ms Mailey concluded: "Let’s work together to find a solution that keeps our children close to home, preserves our unique way of life, and ensures the benefits of a new school campus are shared by all of Mull."

 

Emily Greenhalgh then argued: "Funding was obtained by convincing people that a school was for everybody.

 

"Once the suggested mistruth was told or the mistake discovered, officers had no choice but to make Tobermory seem like the preferred option, even though the site is too small, the most expensive and disadvantages the children of South Mull.

 

"This council’s administration took power a year ago on a promise to be more co-operative and transparent and not ride roughshod over democracy and community opinion.

 

"There’s a chance to do things right here, make good decisions and help a whole island prosper and reverse the damaging depopulation of the island and the enforced child separation policy."

 

The council’s executive director Douglas Hendry said members and officers are not going about their business to lie or mislead. "They are doing the best they can to deliver a project that will provide better education facilities for Mull," he said.

 

A second deputation, former Mull councillor Mary Jean Devon, supported the new ’Tobermory South’ site.

 

She said: "Moving the high school to Craignure would see the largest population of pupils spending up to an hour and a half each day travelling to school.

 

"Any further delay will see a cost of £100,000 per month added to this project. We run the grave risk of losing any further development on Mull."

 

After councillors’ questions, Council Leader Jim Lynch (SNP) proposed a motion to accept the officers’ recommendation.

 

Two SNP councillors, Gordon Blair and Julie McKenzie, broke ranks to say they had "serious misgivings" about the recommendation, and registered their dissent if it was chosen.

 

An amendment by councillor Tommy Macpherson (Ind) called for a pause "for further community engagement and a reassessment of community priorities", and "instructs officers to continue discussions with the Scottish Government and the Scottish Futures Trust to seek additional funding to cover any costs associated with the pause until June 22 2025, and support enhanced community engagement and assessment of the project".

 

But Mr Hendry ruled it not competent, being "too vague and lacking in specification as to be implementable by officers". 

 

The issue did not go to a vote, and the motion to approve Tobermory South was agreed.

 

Councillors Tommy Macpherson, Amanda Hampsey, Daniel Hampsey, Liz McCabe and Jennifer Kean all registered their dissent.

 

You can read a fuller account of the meeting at www.westcoasttoday.co.uk