"... 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.
