Council pulls plug on proposed relocation of Eyemouth Primary School

Members of Scottish Borders Council decided at a meeting of full council to withdraw a statutory consultation on the primary school’s move into the town’s high school.

Council officers will now launch an engagement plan with all elements of the community with the formation of focus groups to agree a way forward.

Hundreds of responses were received after the original consultation was launched in October with the “overwhelming majority” of those not being supportive.

The plan was for a £15m relocation which would have seen the high school “reconfigured and extended” to include the new facility.

The old primary would have been demolished and a new early learning centre built on the site.

Among the issues raised were the ability of the area to cope with increased numbers of pupils and staff and also safeguarding concerns over having such a wide age-range of pupils at the same site.

Cllr Julie Pirone, SBC’s executive member for Education, Youth Development and Lifelong Learning, described the revised move as an “olive branch” to the concerned residents of Eyemouth.

She said: “We do need to get better in how we engage and how we back up our case so that everyone understands what we are trying to do for the benefit of the children and young people of Eyemouth.

“The education experience for children should be paramount in everybody’s mind and the fact remains that the current primary school building is not in any shape or form and it’s not doing the children any good.

“The teaching is superb but the building is well past its sell-by-date and no amount of remedial work on that building will make it on a par with what our children in other schools are experiencing.

“I dearly want the children of the town to have a fit-for-purpose school that builds on aspiration and attainment. They have waited far too long, since 2017, and we really need to work together to solve this dilemma.”

This engagement plan will begin early in 2026.