THE war of words in the lead up to the opening of the new Garnock Community Campus continued this week with the local Labour group saying the SNP have wasted millions on the site.

But the SNP group have hit back and said they have followed guidelines and wishes of locals after they carried out a long consultation period surrounding the new school and leisure centre.

It was announced this week that those children who live within a three-mile radius would not be provided with school buses, as per national guidelines, and the Labour Group who are in control of North Ayrshire Council have hit out saying the campus is in the wrong location and is against the wishes of locals. 

John Bell: “We are now just weeks away from children in the Garnock Valley moving into a brand new, state of the art school but there is no escaping the fact that the SNP have sited it in the wrong location.

“The issuing of letters to parents confirming that their children won’t receive buses is a stark reminder that the SNP went against the wishes of the local community when they pushed through the Longbar site. Even now, just weeks from the campus opening, there has been no suitable explanation as to why they choose this site.” 

But on behalf of the SNP, Councillor Anthea Dickson stated: “A full consultation did take place with regard to the location of the new Garnock Academy and the design of its facilities, with many groups involved, such as the public, teachers, pupils of all the schools, community council, Parent Council, leisure users etc. The pupils and staff, in particular, were extensively involved in determining what facilities should be incorporated and what priorities should be given to the use of space in the school design.”

The current Garnock Academy will close next week and when the schools go back after the Christmas break it will be to the new campus, which will also encompass the Garnock Leisure Centre. 

Cllr Dickson added: “A full consultation did take place with regard to the location of the new Garnock Academy and the design of its facilities, with many groups involved, such as the public, teachers, pupils of all the schools, community council, Parent Council, leisure users etc. The pupils and staff, in particular, were extensively involved in determining what facilities should be incorporated and what priorities should be given to the use of space in the school design. 

“In addition, the current route to and from the new Garnock Academy was assessed as being well within the standards of the ‘Safe Routes to School’ guidelines that all Road Safety Bodies and Local Authorities agree to observe. We very much look forward to the school’s opening, and to seeing both current and future generations of our children prosper from its facilities. Should the SNP be returned into local administration in North Ayrshire next May, education will continue to remain one of our top priorities.”

John Bell hit back and said: “To compound matters further, having chosen the wrong site the SNP then splurged £1.4million of taxpayers money trying to create ‘safe walking routes’ to try and dig themselves out of a hole of their own making - a sum that could have paid for almost 10 years of buses to the new campus for kids from Kilbirnie and Beith or, even better, spending that wouldn’t have been necessary at all had they chosen the originally planned site.

“I stood shoulder to shoulder with my constituents in opposing the Longbar site and I have been working extremely hard with SPT, bus operators and Council officers over recent months to try and find a transport solution but the reality is that the SNP let local people down badly when they went against their wishes and built the school in the Longbar.

“They knew what the consequences of the Longbar site would be with Kilbirnie and Beith both lying out with the council’s free bus transport policy and no commercial bus services being aligned to the school day leaving pupils with a huge walk to the Longbar.

“I can absolutely assure my constituents that I will continue to fight for a solution and can only hope that they hold the SNP to account for their decision at the ballot box next May.”

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “As with all council developments, we undertook an extensive public consultation process to both inform local residents of the proposals for the new campus and gather important feedback.

“Parents and residents rightly identified the provision of safe travel routes as being key to the success of the new school.

“We listened to their concerns and developed proposals which go much further than the required planning regulations and will not only provide suitable walking routes for pupils but also radically improve the connections between and within the towns.

“Our Road Safety Team has been working with staff, parents, carers and pupils to create a new Travel Plan.

 “Government legislation sets out statutory walking distances for schools at two miles for pupils under eight years old and three miles for any other pupil.

“We go over and above these guidelines by providing transport for all primary school pupils who would otherwise require to walk further than two miles. The three-mile limit is applied across the authority for secondary school pupils.”