Agenda item

With reference to Article 10 of the minute of meeting of the Finance and Resources Committee of 22 November 2023, the Council had before it a report by the Director of Resources, which had been referred to it by five members of the Committee in accordance with Standing Order 34.1.

The report recommended:-

that the Finance and Resources Committee -

(a)      note and approve the recommended option to refurbish Old Aberdeen House with the addition of new build provision to deliver a 21^st century learning environment for St Peter’s RC school;

(b)      approve the use of resources for the implementation of the proposed improvement works to Old Aberdeen House with new build provision;

(c)      instruct the Chief Officer - Capital to refer the proposals for the project to the Budget process in 2024; and

(d)      instruct the Chief Officer - Capital to report back to a future meeting of the Finance and Resources Committee in 2024 with a progress update report.

The Finance and Resources Committee resolved to approve the recommendations contained within the report.

Councillor Greig moved, seconded by Councillor McLellan:-            

That the Council approve the decision of the Finance and Resources Committee.

Councillor Grant moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Blake:-

          That the Council -

(1)       note the decision of the Education and Children’s Services Committee on 21 November 2023 and the Finance and Resources Committee on 22 November 2023, and agree the proposals noted below best supports the community of Tillydrone and Old Aberdeen;

(2)       note the contents of the options appraisal and the officer recommendation to proceed with Option C;

(3)       note the Education Scotland report, prepared in April 2019 by the HMIE, titled “Report by Education Scotland addressing educational aspects of the proposal by Aberdeen City Council to relocate St Peter’s RC Primary School to the existing Riverbank school building…” concluded that the proposal to relocate St Peter’s RC to a refurbished school at the current Riverbank school site, “has clear educational benefits for children who currently attend St Peter’s RC Primary School and who would have access to a more flexible, modern and healthy living environment, with improved outdoor learning spaces and early learning and childcare facilities”;

(4)       note that the same HMIE report stated, “There will also be improved outdoor learning spaces with opportunities for physical education. There is significantly more outdoor space available around the Riverbank building, with more than ten times the amount of hard landscaping and nearly 80 times more soft landscaping than is available at the St Peter’s site”;

(5)       note that the options appraisal sets out the significant disparity in the “total site area” of each option where Riverbank is currently 15,816sqm compared with St Peter’s RC which is only 7,940sqm and agree that the additional open space in the former presents a  significant opportunity for future generations of St Peter’s RC pupils to benefit from significantly better outdoor space;

(6)       note that the options appraisal sets out a rationale to develop a school that will accommodate a school roll of up to 434 pupils to cope with possible increased demand and suggests the school roll could be double its current size;

(7)       agree that, if St Peter’s RC were to double in size in the coming years, there is not nearly enough space on the existing St Peter’s RC site in order to create an outdoor learning environment that pupils and staff deserve and that therefore Option C does not offer maximum educational benefit for the school community;

(8)       agree that, to continue to progress work on Option B with any remaining preparatory work outstanding to be programmed and progressed as much as practical prior to the decant of Riverbank Primary School into new build which is scheduled to open in summer 2024;

(9)       instruct the Chief Officer - Capital to refer the proposals for the project to the Budget process in 2024; and

(10)    instruct the Chief Officer - Capital to report back to a future meeting of the Finance and Resources Committee in 2024 with a progress update report.

On a division, there voted:-

For the motion  (33)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Al-Samarai, Allard, Alphonse, Boulton, Bouse, Brooks, Hazel Cameron, Clark, Cooke, Copland, Cormie, Cross, Davidson, Fairfull, Farquhar, Greig, Henrickson, Houghton, Hutchison, Kusznir, MacGregor, McLellan, McLeod, McRae, Massey, Mennie, Nicoll, Radley, Mrs Stewart, van Sweeden and Yuill.

For the amendment  (11)  -  Councillors Ali, Blake, Bonsell, Crockett, Graham, Grant, Lawrence, Macdonald, Malik, Thomson and Watson.

The Council resolved:-

to adopt the motion.