West Lothian to pump more than £60m into building three new schools

West Lothian Council confirmed the funding for two new secondary and one primary for more than 1,500 students.

The village has been earmarked as one of the authority’s three core development areas with thousands of new homes being built over the next ten years.

Council Leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick said: “The council is committed to ensuring that we have sufficient education capacity for our area and we deliver modern and innovative schools to ensure that our children and communities are provided with the possible environment and opportunities for quality learning and life chances.

“The issuing of the new project request represents a key stage in the delivery of the projects and establishes the timelines, cost parameters and accommodation requirements at an early stage.

“This gives the project the best chance of being of high quality, delivered on time and on budget to meet our objectives.”

The new schools are:

* A replacement 231-pupil Holy Family Primary School to be open by August 2022

* A 660-student non-denominational secondary to be open by August 2022

* A 660-student denominational secondary to be open by August 2023

Separate physical education and facilities management accommodation will available from August 2022.

A formal submission will be made to Hub South East Territory Partnership to lead on building the schools on behalf of the council.

Changes to school catchments are expected with a formal statutory education consultation undertaken.

The council has already started an initial pre-consultation exercise on the proposal to establish a new non-denominational secondary school and its catchment at Winchburgh.

This will be followed by a statutory consultation with a final report and decision on the catchment early next year.

Initial consultation is also underway on the relocation of Holy Family Primary School with reporting of the outcomes for decision also in early 2020.

The council will consider a report this September seeking approval to begin the public consultation on the establishment and catchment area of the denominational secondary.

Executive councillor for education David Dodds said: “We believe that this is one of the largest investments in Education anywhere in Scotland and the largest single location investment made by the Council.

“West Lothian is one of the fastest growing areas in Scotland and more and more people are choosing to make West Lothian their home and raise their families here. Last year, exam results reached their highest ever levels and we are investing heavily in our school property estate.”