Update - 18th January 2013

The result of the public consultation process in which pupils, staff, parents and members of the community in Campbeltown were invited to express their opinions on the location of the new Campbeltown Grammar School (CGS) was announced this week. 78% of those who responded expressed a preference for the location of the existing Grammar School.

Two hundred and forty-nine formal responses were made, and 78% of those expressed a preference for building the new school at the existing school site.

The sites on which the public were asked to express their preferences and the percentages of responses were as follows:

1. The existing Campbeltown Grammar School site and associated playing fields (78%)
2. Kinloch Park (15%)
3. Combined site of Meadows playing fields and ground adjacent to Campbeltown Hospital (4%)
4. The Meadows playing fields (2%)

The next full meeting of Argyll and Bute Council (24 January) will consider the outcome of the consultation, as part of the decision on where the new school will be built.

We want your views

Please note: the consultation period ended on 30th November 2012

The consultation period for the Campbeltown Grammar School site selection is now complete. Thank you to everyone that attended the events and provided a response. All the responses are being collated and a report will go to the council in January to allow them to make a final decision.

Following the announcement of funding for the new Campbeltown Grammar School building, through the Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme, Argyll and Bute Council identified a list of eleven suggested sites. Through a process of elimination and appraisal four sites have been shortlisted.

Everyone in the community were invited to take part in the consultation process to decide which site is chosen. Whether you are a pupil, a parent, or simply an interested member of the community, it is important that the Council know your views. The consultation was open between 7th and 30th November 2012.

There were several ways to respond to the consultation and these are explained below in the section How to Get Involved

How to get involved

The launch of the consultation period took place at Campbeltown Grammar School on Wednesday 7 November 2012 from 7pm to 9pm, where Council staff were on hand to discuss the pros and cons of each of the sites, and to explain the design and layout options.

Visitors were able to view the display featuring the long list of sites, with comments on each of the shortlisted locations.

There were also three Open Days for the exhibition about the choice of sites.  Again, Council staff were on hand to discuss the pros and cons of each of the sites  on 8th, 9th and 10th November 2012 when the exhibition will be at Aqualibrium, Campbeltown between the following times;

Thursday 8th November   10am – 8pm
Friday 9th November        10am – 4pm
Saturday 10th November  10am – 12pm

Written displays containing information relating to each of the sites were also available in the Burnet Building and Campbeltown Grammar School throughout the duration of the consultation.

There were several ways to respond to the consultation:

You will be able to complete a consultation response at the Launch event and Open Days;

• From 7th November to 30th November you were able to complete the consultation form online
• By collecting a consultation response form (during the consultation period) from the Council’s Campbeltown Customer Service Point in the Burnet Building, any of the local primary schools, Campbeltown Grammar School and returning it to one of these points;
• By completing a form and posting it to (during the consultation period):

Campbeltown Grammar School  
Site Consultation Response
Hutcheon Road
Campbeltown
Argyll
PA28 6JS

The process of choosing a site

As part of the development of the new Campbeltown Grammar School the selection of the site is important to ensure that the site is deliverable and meets the project objectives.  The Council has undertaken an appraisal of the various options available in order to determine the optimum shortlisting of options.  

The option appraisal process was carried out to identify a list of potential sites and to appraise the shortlist of the potential sites against criteria agreed by the Council. 

Long listing to shortlisting

The Council’s Facility Services consulted with stakeholders including Local Members, Legal, Estates, and Education colleagues in order to identify the long list of sites.  In addition feedback was received during a Masterplanning event chaired by Architecture and Design Scotland. This event was attended by representatives from ACHA, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, Argyll and the Isle Enterprise, Argyll College, CHORD, and private sector Businesses, in addition to staff from roads, planning, and education.

As a result of these discussions a long list of eleven potential sites was identified. That list was reviewed through an initial ‘sifting’ process to determine the sites where it was considered that it would be impossible or unfeasible to construct the Grammar school within the existing scope of the project:

• Was there any site specific factor that would make it impossible or unfeasible for development?
• Was the site of a sufficient size to accommodate the required facilities?
• Would existing, operational Council buildings, which are currently located on the site, require to be replaced elsewhere if the Grammar were to be located at the site?

The results of this process are shown below and four sites were taken forward for a more detailed appraisal:

Detailed  Appraisal

The Council assessed the shortlisted sites using factors under the headings of:

• Impact – The capacity of the site to maximise the potential educational and community benefit of the development.  This would be considered the most significant criterion for determining the appropriate site for construction.  Factors considered were:
  1. Educational Impact –A view from  the Education Service of the potential for the site to contribute to Educational aims and objectives;
  2. Community Access – This was a consideration of the accessibility of each for community use and the relative distance from population centres in Campbeltown.

• Affordability – This assessed the scale of the relative potential costs associated with each site beyond those of the basic construction.  Factors included:
  1. Land remediation – particularly dealing with possible contamination;
  2. Land acquisition costs
  3. Demolition of existing buildings;
  4. Flood risk alleviation;
  5. Utility diversions;
  6. School transport costs; and
  7. Potential reduction in costs from proximity to existing facilities

• Deliverability – This takes account of the complexity of delivering the project on a given site and the likelihood that the building project can be successfully implemented in a timely manner on the site.  Considerations included:
  1. Ground contamination;
  2. Flood risk;
  3. Utilities;
  4. Planning considerations;
  5. Health and safety considerations;
  6. Site ownership and other legal considerations; and
  7. Public acceptance – to be assessed through a focus group with general community comment in writing / email.
  8. Roads / Transport / Safer routes to school implications

• Risk – An assessment of the factors that might affect risk to deliverability of the project and also to impact and affordability. 

The scoring system ranked and weighted the options in the following order of preference: