Extra time to have say on potential north-east school closure as consultation extended

By David Proctor

January 25 2022, 7:45 pm

The council are consulting on the permanent closure of Gartly School.

People are being given more time to have their say on the potential permanent closure of a north-east school.

Aberdeenshire Council launched a statutory consultation on the future of Gartly School at the start of last month.

Pupils have not attended since the discovery of a major oil leak in 2018 and it was mothballed since the summer.

A report considered by Aberdeenshire Council’s education committee in December said it would cost more than £1 million to reinstate Gartly School.

The document also said that continuing the mothballing of the school, which started in August, would not be “the best option for the community or taxpayer.”

Parents had previously vowed to fight to give Gartly School a future.

A virtual public meeting took place on Tuesday evening with another online event scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

It emerged that the consultation period for the proposal has been extended until the end of March after the original deadline for February 24 was pushed back.

Laurence Findlay at Aberdeenshire Council was one of those at the online gathering.

Questions for education boss

Lynne Rutter from Gartly Community Association attended the meeting and thanked education bosses for extending the consultation until March 23.

She asked Aberdeenshire Council education boss Laurence Findlay if the closure had already been decided.

Ms Rutter said: “I think the fact we have so few people able to attend this perhaps demonstrates the difficulty that people often have going to online meetings.

“Thank you for that adjustment. It was something we and many others had asked for.

“Is this all a forgone conclusion now the school is closed and you are now looking at options?

“Or is there still some discussion or opportunity for people to make a case for the school to be reinstated?”

In response, Mr Findlay said: “These things are better if they are done face to face and I hope we can have an in-person meeting before the end of March.

“We’ve presented a number of options and this proposal is to consult on the closure of Gartly School.

“One of the options considered was to continue education at Gartly but that has been discounted by the education committee.

“Everyone’s views will be fed into the consultation process.”

To have your say on the consultation click here.