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.

Special council meeting to debate future of Moray school project with spiraling costs

The new school will have a capacity of 800 pupils
The new school will have a capacity of 800 pupils

A special council meeting has been organised to debate the future of a secondary school project in Moray which has spiralling costs.

Current estimates place the Lossiemouth High School development at up to £10million over the £36million budget.

Yesterday councillors met to debate an update to the build as part of a wider performance report by the education department.

However, they were urged to “hold off” on questions about the Lossiemouth build until next week when “updated information” would be presented.

During talks at the children’s and young people’s committee, senior management explained progress with the project was currently “moving daily”.

Classes were initially expected to start in the new buildings in spring 2020 but complications found with the site under the ground have led to concerns it could be delayed.

Meanwhile, education officers are now “optimistic” that construction could begin in the coming months on Linkwood Primary School in the south of Elgin.

Education and social care director, Laurence Findlay, explained Springfield Properties expected to begin work preparing the site next month, which would allow the council’s contractors to move in during June.

Fears had been raised that delays getting access to the land could result in the move to the new school being delayed.

Elgin City North councillor Frank Brown asked for an assurance that the timeframe would allow the school to be delivered within the revised £12.3million budget – which was increased from £11.5million due to changes to the design and layout.

He said: “So in essence does that mean that if the suggested dates transpire then we will be sitting inside the budget, and if not, then what’s the number likely to be?”

Head of lifelong learning, culture and sport, Graham Jarvis, explained that officers would continue to “challenge” the expected cost to save as much money as possible.

He said: “This is the time we sit round the table and look at a whole number of options to try and bring that number down.

“We would hope to stay within £12.3million at this stage and continue to challenge it with a view to try and reduce it. Even a few thousand pounds here and there, which doesn’t sound like a lot against the total, can mount up.”