Following the decision of South Ayrshire Council’s Planning Committee to reject an outline planning application to relocate Ayr Grammar Primary School to the Old Racecourse, Ayr, it has now been decided to exclude the school from the Council’s Public Private Partnership Initiative.

The Council’s Policy and Resources Convener and Vice-Convener’s Sub Committee took the decision after learning from Roddy McDonald, Head of Project, of the implications of the Planning Committee decision if the school remained within the PPP project.

After the meeting, the Leader of the Council, Councillor Andy Hill explained: “There were clearly three main reasons for excluding the school from the current Project.

“Firstly by keeping it included would potentially adversely affect the credibility of the overall Project with Bidders due to the uncertainty of location and timescales which in turn would have an impact on design and cost.

“A further reason is that at financial close it is in the Council’s clear interest to achieve price certainty, and this would not be possible given the current position with Ayr Grammar and this may provide an opportunity to the Preferred Bidder to amend its pricing.

“Finally, the uncertainties relating to Ayr Grammar could also materially affect the conclusion of a contract for the overall Project with the Preferred Bidder. Taking into account similar precedent in other PPP Projects in Scotland this would be a recipe for delay with a potential detrimental impact to the overall Project deliverability. This could have consequential implication on both price and construction start.”

Councillor Hill continued: "It is important to underline this Administration's continued commitment to building a new school to replace the existing Ayr Grammar Primary School. Officers are currently examining other sources of funding including the Prudential Code to make any commitment to a new school a reality."

The meeting had been told that the exclusion of the school from the Project would not affect the level of Revenue Support Grant offered by the Scottish Government.

March 2005