Council must 'rebuild trust' after school blunder

Renfrewshire Council faces a "challenge to rebuild trust and confidence" following a school capacity blunder, a report has said.

Dargavel primary school in Bishopton opened in 2022 with a capacity of 548 but forecasts suggest 1,100 spaces will be required in the next decade.

The council has apologised for the miscalculations.

An Audit Scotland report said the consequences of the error will be felt for some time.

A document has been prepared by the controller of audit on the debacle, which has engulfed the local authority since November 2022.

It will be considered by the Accounts Commission on Thursday.

The paper focuses on the council's response to last year's damning investigation by David Bowles, a former chief executive of four councils.

It exposed the "gross incompetence" behind the errors and made a series of recommendations.

The report states the council has developed an action plan setting out its response to the issues identified.

It concluded: "The council faces a significant challenge to rebuild trust and confidence with the affected local communities and must take steps to assess the effectiveness of its community engagement programme.

"The council's appointed auditors will continue to monitor and report on progress in addressing the recommendations contained within the Bowles report through the annual audit process."

It said steps had been taken to respond to the recommendations of the independent report but there was still more to be done.

The report added: "Both the community and council will be dealing with the consequences of this error for some time."

It also said the local authority should have explained its process "more clearly and transparently" when finalising the decision to expand Park Mains High School in Erskine to a 2,000 capacity.

Councillor James MacLaren, a Conservative representative for Bishopton, was pleased to see the matter would be discussed by the Accounts Commission.

He said: "I welcome the Accounts Commission's involvement in this. It's a case of the more eyes on it, the better.

Mr MacLaren reiterated concerns that the planned extension at Park Mains - which currently has a 1,600 capacity - was not sufficient.

He added: "The problem isn't going away, it's sitting in the background.

"When we find the high school extension isn't big enough to accommodate all the pupils, what will happen then?

"There will be more uproar in the community. Their voices have been totally ignored."

The commission will consider the controller of audit's report and decide how it wants to proceed.

A council spokesperson said: "Our projections for Park Mains have been reviewed by external experts, based on their tried-and-tested modelling for large housing developments used across the UK.

"These suggest a 400-pupil extension to the existing school will provide enough permanent capacity to meet expected future demand.

"The school and local community have been included in the space-planning exercise around the extension, and will continue to be closely involved as the project moves forward."

Reporting by Jack Thomson, Local Democracy Service.