Moray Council’s battle to persuade the Scottish Government to cover the increased cost of building a new high school in Elgin will continue, after talks failed to yield any outcome.
Earlier this week, councillors learned that delays to the ambitious construction project had caused its price tag to rise from £28million to £29million.
Work on a replacement Elgin High School was due to begin this spring, but a funding wrangle between the Scottish Government and the European Union stalled the scheme.
Work was finally given the go-ahead two weeks ago, but the months the project spent in limbo caused construction costs to balloon.
Council bosses have been left frustrated by SNP ministers’ offer to pay £500,000 towards the increased sum.
Moray Council leader Stewart Cree said that unless the government revises its stance, the local authority will be forced to cut spending on other schools in order to cover the bill for the new building.
The local authority’s head of lifelong learning, culture and sport, Graham Jarvis, met government representatives yesterday in an effort to forge an agreement.
But the summit was unsuccessful in finding a mutually agreeable solution.
Mr Cree last night vowed to continue to press Holyrood finance chiefs into ceding to the local authority’s demands. He said: “Some form of communication will have to continue, that would certainly be my hope.
“My position is simply that we need to discuss this further.
“That £500,000 is money that we will have to find by taking it from other school projects in Moray if the Scottish Government does not supply it.
“And all of this is through no fault of Moray Council, so I just hope that reason will prevail on the matter.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said ministers would remain “in close contact” with Moray Council and remained eager to see construction commence in the near future.
She added that the £500,000 offer to cover spiralling building expenses was based on “proper, eligible costs the council has incurred as a result of the delay”.
At the end of November, Deputy First