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Parents vow to ramp up pressure after Aberdeen school build delayed

How the school site at Tillydrone looks right now.  Picture by Ben Hendry.
How the school site at Tillydrone looks right now. Picture by Ben Hendry.

Concerned parents have vowed to continue to pressure Aberdeen City Council after the building of a new school was delayed.

The Press and Journal first told that construction workers and equipment left the site of the new Riverbank Primary School in Tillydrone at the end of July.

The decision taken by councillors means that the school bell or the cheers of children will not be heard at the proposed school until at least summer 2024. Instead the area will remain a building site.

The Riverbank School parent council sent a last-minute plea to all councillors to restart construction immediately.

But this was ignored by councillors as a majority voted to delay the multi-million-pound education project.

The local authority hope it will give them time to find a better price with the school currently projected to cost £36.2 million. 

Parent Council members Diane Mackie, Melanie Grant, Cllr Sandra Macdonald and Parent Council chairwoman Aga Krawczyk raise their concerns with Scottish Labour MSP Michael Marra and Labour leader Anas Sawar.  Picture by Kath Flannery.

Vow to ‘put pressure on’ over Tillydrone school

Parent council member Melanie Grant said they will hold the council’s feet to the fire on the project.

She said they want to be informed of every single development with the Tillydrone school.

Mrs Grant said: “The only thing we can really do now is massively put the pressure on in terms of communication and in terms of timelines.

“We want to be kept up to date with every single change that goes on with this.

“There has been no communication with us whatsoever.  Having to go to the actual building site to find out things from the workers on site is pretty shocking.

“We expect to be privy to some sort of information.  We will be on their case as much as we possibly can.

“There is still a case for a public meeting because we feel there are still questions that have not been answered.”

The abandoned site of the new school at Tillydrone.

Generation of pupils to miss out

Mrs Grant said the decision to delay building the school is bad for those coming towards the end of their time at primary school.

She added: “There are three of us in the parent council that have sons in Primary Six, so we have children who will never experience the new school, which is greatly disappointing.

“Since they started nursery, there has been talk of this being in the pipeline. To have never experienced it in their primary education is so disappointing.

“Most of the kids that they will go to the academy with will have come from newer schools than them.

“They’ve had a very different primary school experience from what they should have and what they deserve.”

All locked up: The gates at the Tillydrone School building site. Picture by Ben Hendry.

School build cost hike

Council moneymen suggested a pause on building the school to allow the council to look for a better price.

Spiralling construction costs for the project were blamed on Covid, the war in Ukraine and Brexit.

The delay to the Tillydrone build has a knock-on effect on nearby St Peter’s RC Primary too.

Pupils there will move to the existing Riverbank School after it is upgraded.

Council co-leader: ‘We WILL build the school’

At today’s (Wednesday) full council meeting, local authority co-leader Ian Yuill said they were “determined” to build Tillydrone school.

He said they were taking delaying after following advice from council officials. He added that seeking an improved price was “prudent.”

Mr Yuill said: “We are determined to build a new school at Tillydrone, something we all agree about. But we want to ensure that this council and the citizens of Aberdeen get the best value.

“The advice of professional staff is that it is a balance. It may not come back at a better price, but the advice of our staff is that the prudent thing to do is to test the market and therefore that’s what we intend to do.

“There is no long grass, we will build the school.”

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