£1.4m council spend fury when school services under threat

Local resident Jamie Black says he’s “utterly appalled” at the decision to spend so much on the i3 ‘strategic investment site’, which he labelled “a complete and utter waste of money”.

But a member of the local authority’s SNP minority administration says the i3 cash is “one off funding” and insists it’s “a sensible use” of the local authority’s cash.

Mr Black hit out as councillors were quizzed on the cutting of ‘nurture room’ provision in the area’s schools from the start of the new academic year in August.

The move is part of measures contained in NAC’s budget, which was approved in February, and was taken in response to a cut in funding provided by the Scottish Government for the facilities.

Mr Black blasted the £1.38m i3 spend on an ‘innovation and industry strategic investment location with a growth programme which supports emerging technologies and digital automation”.

In a letter to Councillor Alan Hill, NAC’s cabinet member for communities and islands, Mr Black said: "I'm utterly appalled at the proposal by the council to allocate Scottish Government funding of up to £1.38m to the i3 strategic investment site.

"At a time when the council are closing toilets and cutting educational library resource and nurture positions within schools, why should it be a priority for our money, and for consequentials from UK Government?

"Do the council have a statutory obligation to support this? The answer is ‘no’.

“I am concerned that North Ayrshire Council are cutting nurture positions from schools."

Mr Black, who is a member of Largs Community Council, argues that the council has a statutory obligation to support children with additional support needs in a mainstream setting.

He added: "I hope you will agree and propose that this funding, when the council is starved, and councillors like yourself never stop telling us there is no money, is scrapped and a better use for the money be found.

(Image: Newsquest)

"This [i3] project, going by the brief, does not even have a business case ready, is years away from completion, will not reduce energy bills for the people of North Ayrshire, and regardless of funding does not even have a grid connection.

“In short, this is a complete and utter waste of money.

"I'm genuinely in disbelief that the council thinks this is how the people of North Ayrshire want their money spent, when we are facing cutbacks absolutely everywhere.

“It's not North Ayrshire Council's remit to become a quasi energy company, which this tries to do.

"I urge councillors strongly to work with your colleagues and reject this and find a better way to support the people of North Ayrshire."

Councillor Mary Hume (Labour, Kilwinning) raised concern at cuts to 'nurture room' provision in North Ayrshire's schools. (Image: Contributed)

The issue was raised by Mary Hume, who was elected in May as the new Labour councillor for the Kilwinning ward, at the last full NAC meeting before the summer recess

Councillor Hume, a retired head teacher, said: “Nurture rooms were created because of those people who needed support.

“A ‘whole school’ approach does not specifically support those who have distressed behaviour and that is why we created the rooms. 

“What happens to those pupils who show distressed behaviours as the whole school approach will not work for them?

“Have you done a risk assessment on the impact of those children being placed back in their respective classes?”

Councillor Shaun Macaulay, cabinet member for education, responded: The implementation of the strategic equity funding to replace Scottish Attainment challenge funding saw the North Ayrshire budget fall from £5.85m to £1.4million on a phased basis.

“The total cost of authority-wide provision was £2.2 million.

“We don’t have funding to continue on an ongoing basis.

“In agreement with head teachers, we are moving a whole school approach to this by using highly trained staff teams we have built across the authority who will now be  part of the core staff in all schools.”

Councillor Alan Hill defended the plan to spend money on the i3 project in Irvine. (Image: North Ayrshire Council)

Councillor Hill, meanwhile, defended the i3 spending plan and pointed out that the investment would be good in the long term for North Ayrshire.

He said: "I take Jamie's point in terms of efficiency and cuts to council funding, but the i3 is one-off funding and will help the renewable offering, and will actually bring in income to the council.

"Diverting it would only be a short-term solution as it would only work for a limited time. It is not a regular funding option as we have to look at cuts to our budget year-on-year.

“Overall, I see this spend as a sensible use of the funds."

In response to Mr Black’s concern around nurture room provision, Cllr Hill said school rolls were falling across North Ayrshire and that the Scottish Government requirement to retain a fixed number of teaching positions meant savings would have to be made elsewhere.

He added: "I am not aware of the various specifics being looked at as yet, and that final decision is still to be made."