Call for new high school in Kirkcaldy to be in funding plans

Councillor Kathleen Leslie wants provision made for a replacement for Balwearie High School in the finance blueprint. She said funding for a replacement building was “urgently needed.”

Balwearie was a junior secondary school, before becoming a comprehensive school in 1972. It has a school roll of around 1500 pupils .

Fife Council’s administration will present its capital plan later this month, and Cllr Leslie (Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy, Conservative) is keen to see that a replacement will feature within the narrative for future spend.

She said: “The core fact sheet for Balwearie High School lists it as Condition B but with a ‘suitability’ rating of D. Under the Scottish Government definition, this means the school does not support the delivery of services to children and communities with the buildings and grounds seriously impeding the delivery of activities that are needed.”She said Holyrood changes to the funding model is leaving local authorities with “increasingly difficult decisions” - previously a third of the funding for a new school was through the council and the other two thirds via a capital grant from Scottish Government. Now the local authority has to borrow the whole amount and Scottish Government pays half the borrowing costs.

“This makes achieving a funding model for the council increasingly problematic,” she added. “We are also currently waiting to hear from Scottish Government regarding the funding of a new Glenrothes and Glenwood High School. Once those are done, Balwearie will be the only high school left in Fife that needs replaced.”