Fife Council Opposition leader Alex Rowley is calling for the authority’s Education Committee to go to St Andrews to view the proposed sites for a replacement Madras College and to meet with the school community and wider St Andrews community to discuss the options.
Mr Rowley, Fife’s Labour Leader, has also described the way the authority has dealt with the issue of finding a new site as ‘disappointing’ and says there has been a ‘clear lack of political leadership’ throughout the process.
He said: “I think the people of St Andrews and the Tay Bridgehead area must be wondering what is going to happen next in this sorry saga. The complete lack of any political leadership or direction in this matter is, to be frank, staggering. It is clear that the political leadership of Fife Council seem happy to hide behind officials and it is not good enough.
“I am now of the view that to have wasted four and a half years trying to negotiate the Langlands site is a damming indictment on the political leadership who should have stepped into those discussions and made a judgment call long ago as to whether this was going to work out. Now they seem content to hide behind officers who are constructing a scoring system that gives little time or value to the views of parents and local people.”
He said: “I have been in touch with the Executive Director of Education and have requested that we take the Education Committee to St Andrews to view all the options and to meet with representatives of the school and wider St Andrews community.
He concluded: “As leader of the opposition on Fife Council I am calling for councillors to take responsibility, show some leadership and engage with the wider community to find a solution for a problem that has been allowed to go on for far too long.”
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