Mothballed school recommended to close for good

One of eight schools to have been "mothballed" by a local authority in south west Scotland is being recommended for permanent closure.

Dumfries and Galloway Council is being asked to agree to shut Hutton Primary in Boreland.

It would become the first school in the region to shut permanently following the mothballing process - none of them has so far reopened.

The majority of responses to an online consultation were against the closure but councillors are being recommended to approve the move at a school which has had no pupils since August 2020.

The term mothballing refers to the temporary closure of a school where the roll has fallen to very low pupil numbers, and in some cases zero.

There is no guarantee that they will be reopened nor that they cannot be mothballed again in future.

Hutton Primary has been formally mothballed for 17 months - one of eight such sites across the region.

A council report said Dumfries and Galloway was experiencing a "significant and sustained" fall in pupil numbers.

It added that the local authority was also facing increasing challenges in recruiting staff in line with other rural areas.

The report said that while the site was mothballed the building was deteriorating with limited budgets for repairs, maintenance and capital investment.

Councillors are being asked to agree to the school's permanent closure with its catchment split between Applegarth Primary School and Langholm Primary.