Moves to continue mothballing a village school have been blasted.
Carsphairn Primary closed in 2019 when the final two pupils left, leaving no kids on the school roll.
It has been empty for the past three years and councillors will be asked to extend that period for a further two years.
But Carsphairn Community Council chairman Liz Holmes slammed the suggestion.
She said: “We don’t want it to be mothballed, we want it to be reopened.
“Children in Carsphairn have a right to be educated in their local school. They are being forced to travel to Dalry.
“The building will deteriorate, they have already taken stuff out, they’ve boarded up the windows.
“They’re going to turn round and say it’s going to cost too much to do the building up – but we’ve got community volunteers who have been into the playground making it look decent.
“Saving money is not, on any level, a reason for closing a school. There are so many arguments in our favour.
“They are killing our sustainability. Without the school, how are we going to attract young families? The community council is working with South of Scotland Community Housing group to investigate the building of affordable housing to bring young families.”
The results of a consultation report on the school’s future, prepared by Education Scotland, will be presented to the committee on Tuesday.
It reveals there were 34 representations – only one of which was in favour of closure.
Six people wanted it mothballed with seven calling for it to be reopened.
A further 10 were against closure but didn’t have a preferred option, with the remaining not in favour of closure.
The report also reveals there are currently 10 children in the catchment area, which would drop to eight come 2026/27.
As part of the process, 10 families of 15 children up to primary seven age were sent a questionnaire to find out if they would send their youngsters to Carsphairn.
Based on the eight responses received, the highest the school roll would be over the next few years would be six.
The report concludes that “officers are still of the view that on balance the evidence supports the closure of Carsphairn Primary School”.
However, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Carsphairn community’s efforts to provide housing and their “aspirations for growth” they believe it would “be appropriate to provide time for the community to further develop their regeneration plans and establish if there is any growth to pupil numbers within the catchment area, who would seek to enrol at Carsphairn Primary School, were it to reopen”.
Members will be asked to agree to have a “further mothballing period of up to two years”, at which point the pre-consultation process would begin from scratch to see if the current situation has changed.
A council spokesman said: “The school has already been mothballed for three years, so the report that goes before committee is recommending mothballing for another two years – three current plus the two recommended giving the five.”
