totally unsubstantiated gossip and rumour

[Guest]

Apparently the Superstore is definitely NOT going ahead and instead the new Porty High School will be built on this site, in a (until now) secret deal between Tom Farmer and the Council.

You read it here first! (but only if it turns out to be true)

I only went for a haircut.

[Gemini]

Well if it is true Bob, it will make the West End of Porty High Street just as busy and dangerous as a Superstore would have done, although admittedly it would be certain times of the day and evening in relation to school hours and evening activities connected with the school.

I had spoken to Lawrence about this only last week, his thoughts were that the SP site for PHS would be a problem due to the proximity of the catchment boundaries?

Another issue (if the rumours are true) would be how Large would a new PHS be? it has a huge amount of Pupils to accommodate, would it be built in the same style as the existing PHS? If the answer is yes then could we expect to see a Build akin to the Colliesdene Flats at the western entrance to Porty?

Incidentally, We were led to believe that Tom Farmer was an investor in Duddingston House Properties - but he did not have allot of say in what DHP did, this is of course in relation to the Supersore build.
Now (if rumours are true) Tom Farmer has decided to sell this piece of land to the council ? I am a tad confused about this?

It will be very interesting to learn if the rumours ARE TRUE.

[bellybabe]

[Cynthia]

This is the reply I got from Lawrence Marshall to my question re the rumour of the School being rebuilt on the Scottish Power site:

" although I did raise the possibility of trying to rebuild the High School on the Scottish Power site, I don't now think that this is likely to be a runner - we couldn't afford the land and Education aren't keen because it's at the edge of the current (and not up for alteration, unlike some others) catchment area.
That still leaves us with a huge problem of finding £25m just for the rebuild, never mind the land. It would be possible to rebuild on the current site and move pupils into temporary accommodation but it's very disruptive and far from ideal. "

PS I asked him also about Housing Waiting Lists for this Ward but he didn't know - anyone know how I can find out? I have asked Lawrence as Councillor to ask for this information, as local Councillor, but not had a reply yet.....

Carla

[scossie5]

Might be an old question, with an old answer. But what's going to happen to the current PHS site?

[Guest]

I think the simple answer to this is that unless another suitable site becomes available at an affordable price the more likely scenario is that the tower block will be knocked down and the school rebuilt on its existing site. The pupils would either have to be distributed among other schools or re-located to temporary classrooms in the car-park, or some combination of these measures. As a parent, it's not a scenario I welcome at all but what is the alternative?

[ecm]