Land-price drop hits council

Russell Steele • Published 4 Sep 2010 14:00

A CRASH in land prices has wiped millions of pounds off the value of key school sites being sold by Inverclyde Council.

The local authority hoped to raise enough cash to help pay for a massive primary school refurbishment programme by getting rid of prime sites such as Greenock Academy and the former Greenock High and Glenburn schools.

But a recent valuation of Greenock High and Glenburn - set to be sold to the Scottish Prison Service for a new jail - came in at a ‘substantially lower’ figure than expected.

The shock fall triggered an immediate review of other sites the council also plans to dispose of - and it has emerged an £8million funding gap will now have to be bridged to pay for the primary rebuilding projects.

The review confirms Greenock High and Glenburn will be worth about £2m less than expected. Greenock Academy, despite being situated in the heart of the town’s west end, also came in at £2.2m lower than first thought.

There was some good news for the council accountants, with the price tag for St Stephen’s High in Port Glasgow - also set to go on the ‘for-sale’ list - up by £500,000 from last year.

But the financial headache means the primary school projects could now take longer to finish - as officials have recommended the revamp should be ‘stretched’ to 2027.

In a report to members of the education committee, Alan Puckrin, chief financial officer, said: “If the construction programme remains unchanged, there would be a deficit of almost £8m at the end of the programme in 2023/24 and there would be a large cashflow deficit during the programme.

“It is therefore recommended the primary school programme is stretched over a greater number of years, with the last school being completed in 2027 and financially complete in 2029.”

The primary school upgrade plan is still scheduled to begin in the summer of 2013 - but the order of projects has not yet been decided. Councillors will be asked to agree to the revised plan when they meet on Tuesday afternoon.

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 04 Sep 10

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