Plans unveiled for new £6.4m school

May 21 2008 By Gary Fanning

PLANS to build a new £6.4m primary school in Larkhall have been lodged with South Lanarkshire Council.

Applicants Morgan Ashurst, based in Hamilton International Technology Park, have submitted detailed proposals to demolish and build a replacement Robert Smillie Memorial School, sports pitch and associated work in Glen Avenue.

The new school will be built on ground at the existing building prior to demolition of the existing premises which means there will be no need to decant children.

If the proposals are given the go-ahead, work on the new school will begin on Sunday, July 13, and be completed by September 2009.

A neighbourhood notification notice outlining the development has already been sent out and residents in Whinnie Knowe, Glen Avenue and Robert Smillie Crescent have been informed about the development.

Larkhall Labour councillor Jackie Burns said the latest scheme is another great boost for the whole of the Larkhall area.

He added: “This is fantastic news for Strutherhill as well as the district as a whole.

“There is already going to be 375 new homes on the Larkhall Academy site.

“The new school will cater for the increasing school roll which has been projected for the town in the next few years.

“It will be a first-class facility with an outdoor kickabout area attached to the school and the community will be able to use these facilities.”

SNP councillor Lesley McDonald said: “I am delighted that the Scottish Government’s settlement has enabled the school to be built.

“Staff and pupils will welcome a 21st-century school.”

The school is being built as part of South Lanarkshire Council’s £850 million Primary School Modernisation Programme.

Every one of the authority’s 124 primary schools will be fully modernised by 2016.

A South Lanarkshire Council spokeswoman said: “Already, 25 brand new primary schools have been built as part of the project.

“These state-of-the-art schools have proven to be huge assets to each school community as the bright, modern buildings greatly enhance pupils’ learning environment.

“The new schools have also become assets to the wider communities in which they sit, as sports facilities can be utilised by the public during evenings and weekends.”