What does 'dedicated' mean?

In December 2009, Scottish Ministers granted qualified approval to Dundee City Council to proceed with the schools project, making special reference to the HMIe recommendations to:

"... clarify its proposals for use of Victoria Park by giving a commitment to how it would dedicate part of the park [our emphasis] for use of the two primary schools and a firmer indication of what pitches or sports areas might be laid out for their use at various times of the year."

The specific request from Schools Directorate to the director of education was to:

"... [make] clearer its plans and commitment for dedicated use [our emphasis] of part of Victoria Park as playing fields by the two schools."

There followed a series of council comments in the local press which failed to conclude with any clarity over the council's plans, so at the 1st Project Board meeting on 27 January 2010, West End councillors asked the council to clarify said proposals and were told that this would need to be referred back to HMIe and Scottish Government to establish what was meant by the use of the word 'dedicated'.

At the 2nd Project Board meeting on 25 March 2010, the council was still unclear, despite several conversations between the director of education and HMIe, while councillors and the EIS union representative felt the meaning of 'dedicated' was quite obvious.

For reference, the Compact OED defines the meaning of 'dedicated' as:

adjective 1 devoted to a task or purpose. 2 exclusively assigned or allocated to a particular purpose.

We have obtained, under Freedom of Information, evidence that the director of education wrote to Schools Directorate on 15 September 2009 to state:

"... I am proposing that playing fields will be available in Victoria Park, approximately quarter of a mile distant from the proposed location of the school. This is a large public park, and so the area available will easily exceed 0.6ha."

Schools Directorate in turn wrote to HMIe on 24 September 2009, as part of requesting HMIe advice for the Application for Ministerial Approval, to advise:

"Playing fields of the requisite size for two primary schools (0.6ha) will be carved out of Victoria Park [our emphasis], approximately a quarter of a mile away"

The council appears to be unable to determine its own understanding of the word, therefore they have invited HMIe to attend the 3rd Project Board meeting on 27 May 2010.

Let's hope that Her Majesty's Inspectors for Education understand the meaning of this word.

Public Exhibition 1st and 3rd April 2010 in Blackness Library

Dundee City Council have announced that there will be a public exhibition of plans for the proposed new West End schools in Blackness Community Library (225 Perth Road, Dundee DD2 1EJ) on:

Thursday 1st April 2010, 2pm - 7pm

Saturday 3rd April 2010, 10am - 1pm

Comments must be submitted to Gillian Ross Pond by Monday 26 April 2010 at the latest. Further information may also be obtained from Ms Ross Pond:

postal: Floor 8, City House, Overgate, Dundee DD1 1UH

phone: 01382 435161

email: gillian.rosspond@dundeecity.gov.uk

The Director of Education has written to all parents/carers of children attending Park Place Nursery, Park Place Primary, St Joseph's Primary and all staff at the three schools to:

"... strongly encourage you to take this opportunity to view the Council's plans. Council officers from the design team will be present to listen to your comments and answer any questions you might have."

"The planning timescale has been finalised, and it is hoped that the project will go to the Development Quality Committee for approval on 16 August 2010."

"... assuming the planning application is approved, work is scheduled to begin on site in January 2011 and be completed by March 2012. This would allow us to plan for pupil entry in mid April 2012."

Note that the latest set of plans shared with the Project Board are the same as the ones we obtained from Scottish Government under Freedom of Information and can be viewed on our website here.

Sportscotland liable to object to the West End School proposal

Sportscotland are the national agency for sport in Scotland.

After considering the latest plans from DCC for the West End School, their opinion of the facilities was clearly communicated to DCC and contained the following comments on external provision.

"it does not provide sufficient playing fields"

"There does not appear to be any pitch provision proposed within the ground of the school, which is contrary to sportscotland guidelines. For a school of this size sportscotland recommends a minimum provision of a single synthetic pitch (60m x 40m)"

"the external pitch provision is contrary to sportscotland's 'School Playing Fields - Planning and Design Guidance' and is therefore insufficient for the needs of the school"

Notes from the West End Local Community Planning Partnership - 18th February 2010

Following our request inviting the public to attend last week's West End Local Community Planning Partnership meeting, we're pleased that there was a good turn out. We report below some notes from this meeting:

It seems that the council do not intend to comply with the recommendations from HMIE regarding provision of playing fields, as Dundee City Council have nothing in their budget for playing fields at Victoria Park despite telling the Scottish Government that this was their intention. When asked why they were ignoring HMIe’s recommendations, the Project Director said that it was not her department, but that the Education Department could answer this query.

One of the West End councillors stated that when this point was raised at the Project Board meeting (27th January) a representative from the council indicated that they would contact the Scottish Government to state clearly what the council would have to provide in Victoria Park.

They are still awaiting this response.

A member of the public pointed out that if the council do not provide playing fields then they are in breach of the Schools Premises (Scotland) Regulations and they cannot therefore proceed with the project. A member of the St Joseph’s Parent Council brought up the fact that in a questionnaire completed by parents (soon to be issued to the Parent Forum of St Joseph's school), more than 90% of the parents want outdoor space and outdoor activities for the children on the new site.

Parents are still very concerned about the road safety aspects of the site, yet the police remain to see the plans so could not offer an opinion on the safe pick up and drop off of children.

Members of the public raised concerns about the consultation process by the Council and Diocese. They were told that it was the committee's understanding that both the parish, and school had been consulted, and not only was the Diocese in favour, but so were the parish and majority of parents.

A member of the St Joseph's Parent Council refuted this information based upon their own survey of parents and a parishioner of St Joseph's Church added that the parish were not consulted on support for the proposal.

The Project Director referred to the report to Education Committee on 11 May 2009 when the consultation ended and was then passed by the Education Committee, with no objections.

It was then pointed out by a member of the public that the report she referred to, did not include the fact that 81% of respondents with comments about the proposal were firmly against the proposal, yet this information was not mentioned in the report.

Another member of the public said they were very concerned that the land deal was still proceeding even although planning permission had not been granted. What if it was refused? St Joseph’s school grounds would be seriously diminished.

The Project Director gave a timetable of milestone dates re planning and tendering, which appear to be optimistic based on current EU regulations.

The topic of contamination was also raised and it was asked if any study was done to date. The answer was that is has not and the council was questioned why the land swap process was taking place even before a study was made.

New school design obtained from Freedom of Information

On 26 January 2010, the West End Parents Committee received material from Scottish Government as a response to a Freedom of Information request. This material included early stage designs for the Logie site (June 2009) as well as detailed designs submitted by Dundee City Council to Scottish Government as a follow up to their application for dispensation in August 2009.

We confirmed with Scottish Government on 10 February 2010 that this material is now deemed to be in the public domain, and specifically that we are permitted to print/publish the site designs, which we have done below.

Note that the city council have shared the same design with the new Project Board, which convened on 27 January 2010.

Please consider these designs and make an effort to attend the West End Local Community Planning Partnership meeting on 18 February 2010, 7pm, at the Tartan Cafe

(53 Perth Road, Dundee) where the project director will give a presentation of the schools project.

Scottish Government confirms Logie site is too small for regulations

We've received confirmation that the proposals for new schools in the West End will not meet minimum government regulations governing size of site. Scottish Ministers have approved the city council's application for dispensation from the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967 and as amended, on the basis that:

"Scottish Ministers are content to approve, in terms of regulation 7(6), the area of the west end site for the proposed two schools and nursery. They take the view that, in all the circumstances, it would be unreasonable to apply the standards prescribed in the regulation."

The city council has also been instructed to follow HMIe recommendations:

"...to clarify its proposals for use of Victoria Park by giving a commitment to how it would dedicate part of the park for use of the two primary schools and a firmer indication of what pitches or sports areas might be laid out for their use at various times of the year. The council should also seek to reassure parents about the levels of contamination of soil at the proposed site and the level of danger from the nearby electricity sub-station. HMIE also recommends that the council shares and discusses the detailed plans for the joint campus with parents."

We look forward to receiving the council's detailed plans and glad to see that the council has been made aware that the provision of playing fields is a requirement, not a guideline, nor as the Education Convener stated in May 2009,

"there is no absolute need for them...for us to provide them with a playing field"

Some confusion at DCC regarding use of Victoria Park

Following our previous blog entry regarding the response from the Director of Leisure and Communities to Cllr Richard McCready, stating they have "no such plans" to use Victoria Park for school playing fields, we have obtained information under FOISA that suggests some confusion between departments in the city council. We asked:

(3a). Is DCC intending to use any of the following spaces - Victoria Park, Lochee Park, Magdalen Green, - for the purpose of sport and recreational activities by the proposed new West End Primary Schools (the shared campus for Park Place and St Joseph's)?

The response given under FOISA was:

"DCC is intending that Victoria Park will be used as necessary by the proposed West End Campus"

Please can someone enlighten us regarding the city council's plans for Victoria Park with respect to the proposed new West End schools?

Update on DCC application to Scottish Government

Cllr Fraser Macpherson has posted an update on his website (www.dundeewestend.com) advising that the city council's application for dispensation should soon result in a decision from Scottish Ministers. The Director of Education is quoted to be looking forward, "with somewhat bated breath", to a decision being made soon.

Remember that the application was made on 4 August 2009, over 4 months ago, but the council has not kept parents or residents updated with developments. It has made no statement about the inclusion of Victoria Park in its application, although Schools Division in Edinburgh have confirmed that the application intends for this public park to provide playing fields for the new schools.

When a West End councillor recently asked the Director of Leisure and Communities about "a briefing on any plans to use Victoria Park in the West End Ward for school playing fields for the proposed West End school located at the former Logie site", his official and confirmed reply was:

"We have no such plans"

What is going on in Tayside House?

Declining non-staff expenditure on St Joseph's school

We have received data under FOISA from Dundee City Council relating to non-staff costs, which shows a concerning year-on-year downward trend in such expenditure; this may explain the visible deterioration of the school building.

If the 2004/05 level of expenditure had continued in the following four years, St Joseph's would have received a further £170,630 of investment, which could have been spent on improving the school building. for comparison, non-staff costs for Park Place PS are also shown in the figure. This comparison is striking because St Joseph's PS is an older and larger building with 46% more pupils than Park Place PS.

DCC application for dispensation from School Premises Regulations obtained under Freedom of Information

Regarding the West End Schools Project and the council's application to Scottish Ministers for dispensation from the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967 and as amended, the West End Parents Committee have obtained documents under Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 which the local authority have refused to publish, have refused sight of to elected councillors of the council's Education Committee, and which the Education Convener, Cllr Liz Fordyce, has claimed she considers to be a "confidential letter". The council has also refused to make the information available in response to an FOISA request. The council's formal position on this is that they are withholding the documents because:

"...it has been widely reported in the media that parents of children affected by the proposed West End schools merger are considering taking legal action against the Council, presumably by way of Judicial Review in the Court of Session. Accordingly Officers are not at liberty to disclose documents that will form part of the Council's defence to such an action, including the application made to the Scottish Government under the 1967 Regulations, at this time."

We would question what is so confidential in the application that it cannot be made public. The documents we have received under Freedom of Information suggest that the council's application includes: derogation to be granted since the regulations do not define how to interpret them with regard to a shared campus - however it is clear that other Scottish authorities have managed to deliver new shared campuses without recourse to Scottish Ministers for dispensation.

The documents we have obtained also include maps showing Victoria Park and the distance between this public space and the Logie site. We would ask if the council intends to use Victoria Park to provide playing fields in close proximity to the Logie site, as it is clear that there will be none on the site itself. We would also ask:

1. What is so secret that the Education Convener wrote in an email that she considers it to be a "confidential" letter? It has not been made available to other councillors so we would assume the council would not have given any elected member access to the documents?
2. What do parents think of the children using Victoria Park for the provision of playing fields for the new schools?
3. What do the Friends of Balgay Park think about this information?
4. What does the West End Community Council think about this?
5. What do local residents on Blackness Road and surrounding areas think about this?
6. What do teachers think about this, as they will be the ones that have to make time in the PE curriculum to walk with the children and supervise them in a public park which members of the public are entitled to visit and exercise their dogs?
7. What will the council do to ensure the provision of suitable facilities with running water, changing facilities, first aid, telephones, marked sports pitches, fenced off areas for safe play, protection from dogs, enclosed all-weather pitches?
8. What does Colin Rennie from Fields in Trust make of this, having previously cautioned the Director of Education against "seeking a waiver to obtain a level of provision less than is required by the regulations"?
9. What is the view of Sportscotland regarding the loss of the existing St Joseph's playing field when the grounds are sold to the Al-Maktoum Foundation?

Victoria Park is not zoned for this in the Dundee Local Plan and council officers stated during public consultation, when asked, that they could not site the new schools in Victoria Park for this reason. What has changed between March and now?