IN your recent news report, the headteacher of Birtenshaw School for young people with special needs was obviously proud of his new £5.6 million development.

However, some clarification is needed.

The original build cost was stated by the school management to be a total of £4.5 million (with £1 million of this a bank loan) and so the increased build cost of another £1 million needs budgeting for.

Is this covered by additional central government grant aid at a time of punitive spending cuts?

Moreover, when the school states that the indoor heated pool and other resources are also available to the local community, it was made very clear at the start that this is only for private group hire of the pool only, since individual swimming sessions would have to be covered by at least two poolside qualified lifeguards and it is unlikely such staffing costs would be met by the school.

The school really needs to be very clear about the exact facilities it says are fully available for community use.

Moreover, there was no mention of the original plans to erect offices to rent out commercially.

Finally, it is all very well boasting that the child clients, (how many of them there are we are not told), got to shape the design of the new buildings, but extending this outlook to local residents would have been a basic courtesy surely?

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