Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Latest round in battle against “massive” Lochaber school

The Gaelic primary school  at Ardgour Road, Caol, in its early stages
The Gaelic primary school at Ardgour Road, Caol, in its early stages

Lochaber residents fighting a new school that is so big it has blocked views of the UK’s tallest mountain, claim Highland Council provided them with inaccurate information.

And they are angry that the local authority has failed to respond when challenged about this.

Locals were shocked to discover that the £7million Gaelic medium primary school being built on Ardgour Road at Caol, near Fort William, was going to be around 20ft high, with a sports hall almost 40ft high.

Caol Community Council set up a steering group, involving community council members and residents, and almost 800 people signed an online petition unsuccessfully calling for work to stop.

Community council chairman Sandy Watson said people were unhappy that they appeared to have been ignored.

Mr Watson said the council insisted that the sports hall had to have a minimum unobstructed playing height of 25ft to qualify for SportScotland funding.

Locals have since discovered that this is the minimum height for a secondary school, whereas, for a primary school hall, the minimum is just 22ft.

He said: “It may not be a lot, but it would make a bit of difference. Anything that makes it smaller would help.”

Mr Watson also said the council claimed the cost of moving the sports hall to another part of the site was around £1million, but locals believed it would cost less than £500,000.

“We have been told it would cost around £480,000, less than half as much, so that might have made a difference to the decision not to move it,” said the community council chairman.

And he claimed that the council’s chief executive promised to look into including glass panels to allow light to pass through the hall, but this did not appear to have happened.

Mr Watson said:

“It’s more than a month since we put all these things to them and they haven’t come back to us on any of it.”

A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “The minimum height for a sports hall that is required to be used for community use if 7.6m (25ft).

“The council confirms that the cost to move the sports hall to another part of the site is £1million.

“The introduction of additional glazing is under review. However, sunlight is particularly unwelcome in sports halls, therefore further glazing may not be a practical solution.”