Inverness members said children are having to eat their lunch outside, prompting other councillors to speak up for their schools too.
Their words came as budget leader Derek Louden laid out the stark facts:
“What was affordable then is not affordable now, and won’t be affordable in the future,” he said.
“We have to tell our communities that we can’t deliver on everything we said we could deliver.”
Mr Louden said there is detailed work under way to reassess the capital programme. This could mean the Highland Council can’t deliver all the new schools it had hoped.
Inverness pupils forced to eat outside, says Christie
Mr Louden said he initially looked at delaying projects, but council officers had made it clear there would need to be cuts too.
His words prompted the leader of the opposition to challenge the process.
“Collaboration isn’t saying ‘Here’s the finished paper, what do you think?” said Mr Christie. For the second time in the meeting, he urged council leaders to open a dialogue with opposition members.
Earlier, SNP members had taken aim at the chaos in UK politics, quipping that the cabinet had changed more times than an Ikea showroom.
Mr Christie countered: “My residents don’t care about your comments that [the budget was set] was three chancellors ago. They care about their children and their schools, and whether they will spend their whole academic life in modular classrooms.”
Mr Christie said some Inverness pupils are having to eat their lunch outside due to a lack of space in their school. His colleague Trish Robertson later reiterated the point, saying that Culloden Academy pupils are eating outside.
Turning directly to Mr Louden, Mr Christie asked: “Will you take Inverness schools out of the programme?”
His words set hares running in the Highland Council chamber, with members all chipping in for schools in their own ward.
Dingwall councillor Margaret Paterson reminded the Inverness members that they should think more broadly than the city. She asked members not to row back on commitments to St Clement’s school.
Even the chairman of the education committee John Finlayson worked in a plug for his ward in Skye.
Stop point scoring and find solutions
Councillor Maxine Smith observed: “Everyone will fight for their own area, and it won’t be easy to decide.”
She went on to ask the Highland Council to be ambitious, brave and commercial in its approach to new school builds. Ms Smith repeated ideas she had raised in the last political term, that the council should explore the option of modular buildings to save costs.
“I’m not thinking in terms of cuts, I’m think how can we do it?” she said.
Economy chairman Ken Gowans urged members not to jump to assumptions about what’s in or out of the capital plan. “We need to take a measured view,” he said.
Mr Finlayson was in agreement. Highland Council needs to be responsible financially, but all hope is not lost.
“I’m ambitious for the capital programme but we have to look at every way possible to fund it,” he said. “We need to ensure out communities get their schools. Let’s stop point scoring and bring the ideas of all members together.”
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