Council boss pushes forward North Shore campus project

A decision on the future of the proposed Ardrossan Campus was expected at a full council meeting on March 25.

However, the coronavirus pandemic forced council meetings to be postponed.

North Ayrshire Council Chief Executive Craig Hatton then took the decision, under delegated powers, to progress the project in, the council said, consultation with elected members.

Councillor John Bell, cabinet member for education, said: “We all wish this decision is one which could have been taken at full council but we would simply have been setting the project back by at least five months.”

Despite the majority of councillors supporting the outcome others still harbour concerns about land contamination and the costs involved in building on the site.

The proposed campus will be an education facility for children aged three to 18, formed from the closure and relocation of Ardrossan Academy and Winton Primary School and Early Years Class, built on the site of a former bitumen processing plant.

The council is a 50 per cent shareholder in Ardrossan North Shore LLP (ANSLLP), which owns the North Shore land.

The proposal is for the council to purchase a 50 per cent share in ANSLLP from Peel Land and Property for £925,000, giving the council full ownership.

Of the 786 formal responses the council received via an online survey, 80 per cent of respondents agreed with the proposal.

The majority of those respondents who were parents, carers, school staff and Ardrossan Academy pupils supported the plans, but most Ardrossan residents who replied disagreed.

In 2019, a report on the site conditions confirmed the presence of heavy metals and asbestos, including hydrocarbons in the groundwater on the landward side of the former sea wall.

Councillor John Bell, proposed site of new Ardrossan campus.

Councillor Ronnie McNicol is in favour of a new education campus but against the North Shore site.

He said: “The contamination report says, under the risk to human health, they found arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, zinc, lead and asbestos.”

He told the Herald: “We’ve never had any word about how they will remediate plus we were given an estimate to remediate the site of about £3 million and there will be the cost of sea defences on top of that.”

A council report states valuation advice has been secured from independent sources but the council would not confirm the estimated value of the land.

A regeneration firm owned by Inverclyde Council and Scottish Enterprise bought an old dockworks from Peel Land and Property for over £10 million when it was worth almost minus £6 million due to contamination.

Cllr McNicol is concerned a similarly bad deal is happening in Ardrossan.

Scottish Hazards, a charity campaigning to improve health and safety, is against building on contaminated land, especially schools.

A spokesperson said: “This is a view not shared by a growing number of local authorities and plans are being passed for domestic housing and public building on these sites when the risks of doing so are not fully understood.

“For Scottish Hazards the only effective remediation is to remove all contaminants and toxic substances for safe disposal and rigorous testing of the land over a period of time to ensure the remediation has been effective.

“Anything else is mitigation, reducing the unknown risk of harm from toxins that remain in the ground by installing a geomembrane or similar barrier between the contamination and the building.”

A spokesperson for NAC said: “A detailed remediation strategy will be developed once a masterplan for the site confirms where the various uses proposed will be located, including the new campus, as this will inform the remedial work required.”

A spokesperson for NAC Conservative group said they were opposed to the decision to build the school at the North Shore site because they don’t believe it is the best location and have concerns about ground contamination.

The spokesperson said: “We believe it to be unfortunate that there was not a site selection process to identify a more central site for the town and believe that this has been a missed opportunity.

“More time should have been taken over this decision particularly as since during the emergency shutdown of the council it has not been possible to come to democratic decisions.”

A spokesperson for NAC said: “Education Scotland confirmed that NAC ‘has given good consideration to identifying a site that best meets the needs of children and young people and maximising opportunities through co-location with the swimming pool, public library and Health and Social Care Services.

‘The proposed 3-18 campus will provide modern, fit-for-purpose accommodation and facilities’.”

North Shore site at risk of flooding, report says

Area of the Ardrossan shoreline projected to be under water by 2050 according to scientists.

The North Shore site, in line with projected sea level rises, will be at major and increasing risk of flooding in years to come, according to a scientific study.

A report by Climate Central, a US-based scientific organisation, shows large areas along the coast at risk by 2050, as reported in the Herald in December last year.

Climate Central published a map using sea levels and annual flood risk showing the areas at risk of being swallowed up in 30 years time and factors in moderate cuts to global pollution levels.

Councillor Ronnie McNicol told the Herald that an estimated cost for sea defenses being constructed at the site was £2.25 million.

A spokesperson for North Ayrshire Council said: “Any design for a new campus on the proposed site will be required to take the prevailing and predicted weather conditions into account.

“The design could, for example, ensure that outdoor learning and social areas are sheltered by the building, and that the building materials are appropriate for the coastal environment.

“Safety will be a major part of the design strategy, which will take account of the site location and the numbers accessing the building.”

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