Drummond Community High School’s Head-Teacher has issued the following communication to parents and carers.
School security
You may recall our previous communication on 2 December 2024 regarding school security and access to the playground out-of-hours. As we move into lighter nights and better weather, we have been working in partnership with colleagues from the CEC Health and Safety team, Amey and the Edinburgh Schools Partnership to review public access to the school grounds.
From Friday 21 March, we will operate a trial period where the gates to the playground will be locked at 10.00pm Monday–Friday but left open to the public all day Saturday and Sunday.
If any member of the community has concerns about people using the school grounds inappropriately at any time, please contact the school during the day on 0131 556 2651, or report this to the Police outwith school hours by phoning 101. Thank you.
We learned about the development just too late for inclusion in Issue 349, published on 1 April. It is a cautious and welcome step in the right direction, although we think more could be done to emphasise public access as more of a public right than a privilege.
Awkward questions
On related lines, Ward 12’s Cllr Jack Caldwell has been asking awkward but important questions of the Council’s Culture & Communities Convener Cllr Val Walker.
Her written answers were made available in advance of the Full Council Meeting on 20 March. Questions and answers appear between the asterisks below.
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QUESTION NO 9
By Councillor Caldwell for answer by the Convener of the Culture and Communities committee at a meeting of the Council on 20 March 2025
On 27th February 2025, Culture and Communities Committee passed the ‘Draft Sports Pitch Strategy for Edinburgh 2025–2035’ with a Liberal Democrat Group Addendum.
The report contained the following paragraph on Page 8: ‘While sports pitch opening hours are extensive, there is scope to extend the operating hours of school estate pitches to ensure that facilities are accessible to the community at the times they are most needed. Future planning must ensure school estate pitches as far as possible serve the wider community alongside the school community.’
Ahead of the detailed report, can the Convener please clarify:
Question (1): How this principle will be compatible with school estates managed by PPPs (Public private partnerships) which have a right to impose their own access hours?
Answer (1): Operating hours for PPP schools are clearly defined in the contract between the Council and PPP partners and cannot
be changed without agreement between both parties.
Question (2): How this principle will be compatible with school estates and pitches with planning conditions that limits the hours that a sports pitch can be used?
Answer (2): If planning conditions are in place for operating hours of pitches, then they must be adhered to. However, where appropriate, an application to amend planning conditions can be submitted to the planning authority.
Question (3): Will these sports pitches be listed, mapped, or catalogued during this strategy?
Answer (3): A comprehensive pitch data tool for Edinburgh was completed as part of the development of the new strategy.
The data tool lists and maps every sports pitch in the city and allows the Council and Edinburgh Leisure to access a range of information to manage and develop pitches.
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As argued in Issue 349, Spurtle finds Cllr Walker’s responses dull, legalistic and without any obvious urgency or enthusiasm for finding new ways to improve access to the Council's school estate.
Update
Following the exchange of questions above, Cllr Caldwell posed a supplementary question to which he received the answer (on 28 March) shown in italics below:
Supplementary question.
Thank you for the answer. To clarify Answer 1, can the Convener please outline her and the department's intended approach to reach agreements with PPP estates to allow both maximum access and maximum safety so communities with these pitches also benefit from the new strategy where possible?
Supplementary answer.
The delivery of the Pitch Strategy’s action plan will include pitches within the PPP estate. We would like to see community benefits wherever possible, recognising that any improvements or changes to service delivery that impact on the contractual arrangements currently in place would require engagement with PPP partners to agree any proposed amendments.
Cllr Walker continues to answer with necessary and understandable caution, but to Spurtle's ear her response contains a hint more enthusiasm, albeit of homeopathic proportions.
