Near accurate pupil numbers for Dargavel and Park Mains schools have been sitting in a Renfrewshire Council document for the past five years, it has been revealed.
The 2017 report – identified by parents of children attending Dargavel Primary School last month – states that Dargavel Village would create 854 additional primary school-aged pupils once completed.
While the report referenced a new school with a capacity for 440 children, it states the education department believed the remaining 414 children could be accommodated within existing schools nearby.
It means that Renfrewshire Council had itself known six years ago that a minimum of 856 children would need a primary school place. The local authority has refused to comment on the revelation.
Education bosses had revealed in October last year how they made a catastrophic error with pupil estimates which ultimately saw Dargavel Primary opened with a maximum capacity of 548.
Renfrewshire Council believed the school roll would be 430. It is projected to reach 1,100 in the coming years.
The 2017 report was compiled by engineering consultancy SYSTRA. It had been hired to assess traffic in and around the development with the projected pupil numbers included in the section looking at school-time traffic.
The report states the pupil estimates had come from “Renfrewshire Council’s education department”.
Meanwhile, the same report suggests that, once Dargavel Village is completed, a further 771 secondary school-age children would need a place at Park Mains High School.
The following year, in 2018, the council signed an agreement with the developers which committed them to funding only 200 additional places at the Erskine school from 2021 onwards.
The Paisley Daily Express revealed last week how the shortfall in numbers could see the council made liable for paying for extension at Park Mains. The 2017 report states: “The original development proposal included 2,642 houses.
“Previously, Renfrewshire Council’s education department considered that this scale of residential development would generate 550 additional pupils when complete and fully occupied.
“This number of additional primary school pupils has been factored up to take account of the increase in the number of houses to 4,080 on completion of the development. This gives a new figure of 854 additional primary school pupils.”
The Express asked Renfrewshire Council to explain the discrepancy in figures and how this blunder could occur when more realistic pupil projections had been sitting in an official report since 2017.
It did not comment on the mistake but said: “The report will be considered as part of the ongoing external review.”
Councillors agreed at a board meeting in November that an external inquiry into the school roll mistake would be carried
out.
Local authority officers have, meanwhile, commissioned a third party to review projected pupil numbers across the school estate.
Don't miss the latest Renfrewshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here
