A MEETING between Garnock Valley residents and council officers has done little to allay fears about the safety of accessing the new school campus – if comments afterwards are to be believed.

The meeting on Monday at Beith Community Centre was called in order to provide locals with more information about the planning process for the proposed new school at Longbar.

Officers from the council – including the heads of Planning, Finance and Property, Education and the project’s architects and builders – faced a robust grilling from around 20 parents from Kilbirnie, Glengarnock and Beith, and residents of Daisybank.

Council officers emphasised that the majority of the land required for the campus has now been purchased and they could not comment on the selection of Longbar Farm as the preferred site – a site which has proven to be deeply unpopular with many parents.

Head of Finance and Property Yvonne Baulk said: “The choice of site is not within our gift.

"This is something the politicians wrangled about over time.

“The council now own that land and it’s our job to build the best school that we can.” Jim Miller, the Council’s Senior Planning Services Manager, outlined the process his department would go through in considering the planning application.

He emphasised that they would address all concerns put forward in the pre-planning consultation process in the same way as any other application, and that representations would be accepted right up until the application goes to the planning committee.

However, this didn’t stop questions being raised about the choice of site.

Liz Blane from Daisybank said: “I question the validity of how the decision came about to choose the site.

"When it was voted on it was voted on purely political party lines.

"One party against another party.

"It wasn’t for the residents that it was voted on.” Reacting after the meeting Kilbirnie father-of-two Allan Cairns said: “We’ve had no answers and you can hear the uncertainty in so many points.

“They don’t yet have the access land and routes sorted out.

"Accidents happen regularly on that road.

"I’m not having my son walk that route.

"These plans have been pushed through for political and financial reasons.

“And now nobody is prepared to put their hand up and say ‘we made a mistake’.” Sabrina Smith said: “What they are planning on providing as a school is fine, it’s the safe routes we are concerned about.

“Not one person here tonight has reassured me that our children will have safe routes to school.” Marc Rhodes whose children attend Moorpark Primary School was frustrated that nobody from the SNP administration had attended the meeting to answer residents’ questions. He said: The fact that no SNP members turned up made it very difficult to ask any questions that we could get an answer to.

“That was the whole idea of the meeting to get answers that everybody’s got about ‘why this site?’.” Commenting on the safety fears, Kenneth Gibson MSP for Cunninghame North said: “The ‘Safe Routes To School’ work has not yet begun.

"It is only after the plans are approved that this will commence.

“They need to wait to be sure as to whether the orientation of the structure is as planned and that the main access is from the main road.

“Any specific objections that are rated as unsafe will be addressed, for example if it is vehicle speed the speed limit could be lowered. “NAC will deal with this issue using a multi-departmental team approach involving roads, the access officer, planning, development planning, education and a safety officer who has started work with staff, pupils and parent councils.

“Everyone involved in developing this project wants the new £43million Garnock Academy to be the best possible school NAC can build. Ensuring pupil safety is a key aspect of that.”