Charleston Academy could get a new nursery despite £120 million Highland Council school building budget cuts

A new nursery could be built on an Inverness secondary school campus despite savage cuts in Highland Council’s promised spend on educational buildings.

The local authority has lodged a planning application to build the children’s pre-school facility beside Charleston Academy.

It would form the first phase of a masterplan to completely redevelop the site of the dilapidated 1970s-built secondary in the Kinmylies area of the city.

That blueprint in its entirety looked to be under severe threat – or at best facing significant delay – after Highland Council announced it would ditch 10 major school building projects, while slashing over £120 million from its capital budget.

As part of those cuts, £14.5 million set aside to redevelop the Charleston Academy campus is to be reduced to just £1.5 million.

However, Inverness West councillor Alex Graham, whose ward contains the Kinmylies secondary, stressed that funding for the nursery would be secured from a completely different pot.

As Cllr Graham sits on the south planning committee that will consider the nursery plan, he was unable to comment on the merits of the project, but revealed it would definitely be separately funded despite forming the first phase of redevelopment.

“It is not part of the Charleston Academy capital programme,” he stressed. “The Scottish Government has funded quite a lot of nursery projects over the last three or four years on behalf of Highland Council because of the expansion of nursery hours requirements to 1130 hours per child.

“That means the Kinmylies nursery is on a completely separate funding scheme and not affected by last Thursday’s decision.”

Neither Cllr Graham, nor Highland Council could confirm the cost of the nursery project or the funding sources for the project.

The council application is for the building of a nursery and play space, with landscaping, 100 metres north-west of Charleston Academy.

Creation of a new, modern early learning and childcare centre is seen as much needed on the west side of the city.

A design and access statement said that it would feature three classrooms and associated facilities, with outside play areas.

The site would be land within the Charleston campus which has lain unused since it was built in 1978, lying between General Booth Road and the Charleston Academy Community Complex

The statement reads: “The Council now has a requirement to provide extra nursery provision associated with (Kinmylies) primary school.

“Concurrently, the Academy facilities require upgrade and improvement.

“This project is therefore presented in the context of a broader masterplan for the redevelopment of the entire campus site.”

The nursery building style – similar to the recently-built Milton of Leys nursery – would “set the tone” for the entire campus redevelopment, with facilities accessible to all and with good public transport links.

It would deliver a “significant improvement to the architectural and visual quality” for the surrounding community, the statement claimed.

A Highland Council spokeswoman confirmed: “This was not part of the capital funding originally approved for Charleston Academy, so is not affected by the recent revised capital programme."

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