The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
£1.6m overspend on campus ‘won’t impact resources’
Two unsuccessful funding bids for the Dunfermline Learning Campus have put an additional £1.6 million on Fife Council’s tab. However, the pressure is not likely to affect the quality of the project.
On Tuesday, education scrutiny committee councillors were reassured that the overspend will not hinder the new learning centre.
“We don’t anticipate that there will be any impact on the provision of the quality or the resources available in the school at all,” council officers told the committee.
“We’ll do what we do with all projects. We work to ensure we get the correct value out of the contract that’s in place with the developer.”
The project was discussed as part of the Capital Investment Plan 2023-2024 progress report.
It reiterated that the £1.6m overspend on the project was due to failed external funding bids.
Councillors were told that one of the failed funding bids was in relation to Sustrans – a charity that makes it easier for people to walk, wheel and cycle in Scotland.
The second failed bid was in relation to Sportscotland, the national agency for sport.
“Work is ongoing to mitigate the pressure where possible through other efficiencies in the project, however any residual pressure will be required to be accommodated within the overall education capital plan,” the committee report stated.
An update on the council’s capital plan in November listed Fife’s share of the overall bill at more than £123.6m in total.
In the current financial year alone, the council is expected to spend £54m on the campus.
However, the committee report also stated that “work is progressing well on the project.”
The Learning Campus is being built to replace both Woodmill and St Columba’s RC High Schools. So far, it is still on track to open in August of this year.
The campus will eventually house the new Fife College as well, but that will not be funded by the council.
It’s set to cost £100m and should be ready to accommodate students in 2025.
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We work to ensure we get the correct value out of the contract that’s in place with the developer