Hearing will determine future of new ASN school at Waterside

At a session of East Dunbartonshire Council’s planning board on Tuesday, councillors agreed to hold a virtual pre-determination hearing to give people who have participated in consultation on the planned school the chance to speak.

The hearing will be not be open to the general public but only those who have already submitted written presentations will be invited to participate and depending on numbers delegates may need to be appointed.

The school itself is intended as a replacement for Merkland and Campsie View schools, which provide high level of support to children with complex learning needs.

The council has been working on this project since March 2018, with a report at that time stating: “It was recognised that the two existing schools could not be effectively refurbished to meet the requirement for the new provision. It was agreed that while historically, Campsie View and Merkland had been separate schools, to build one larger school would be more suitable for the future school population, and would provide  the best use of available budgets. There was a requirement to ensure that the accommodation met the diverse needs of the children.”

While the decision to build the school has been broadly welcomed, the decision to build it in Waterside has proven controversial. Many residents have expressed their concern over loss of a football pitch which was popular with local youth teams, and protests have been held locally and supported by parliamentarians. However in 2019 the Scottish Government confirmed it would not call in this decision for review.

Details of the pre-decision hearing are yet to be confirmed.