Moray education bosses have warned councillors that it would be “financially irresponsible” to include a swimming pool in plans for a new Lossiemouth High School.
There was fury earlier this year when officers revealed the cash-strapped authority could not afford to build a pool at the replacement secondary school.
The pool, which is split between locals and schoolchildren, is one of the most popular in the region.
But including a similar facility at the new site would send construction costs soaring from £28.5million to £31million.
Though the school is to be jointly funded by the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) and Moray Council, local education chiefs struggled to ascertain whether the cost of building it would be covered by the government body.
The authority’s director for education and social care, Laurence Findlay, has since been locked in talks with the SFT on the matter.
He has now revealed that the organisation is willing to pay £2million towards the cost of creating the pool.
But Mr Findlay has suggested that the state of the council’s finances is so dire that it would still be unwise to include the pool in its plans.
He said: “Our financial position remains the same, and the advice remains that it would be financially irresponsible to agree to invest in a new swimming pool at this time.”
The authority has been told that it needs to reduce its spending by £14million before the 2017-18 budget to remain solvent.
And Mr Findlay suggested that the outcome of upcoming consultation events on what services people would most like the council to spend on could influence the Lossiemouth High School project.
He said councillors could fund two design schemes, with and without a pool, and render a final decision later this year on whether to include it in the plan.