Council abandons Edinburgh music school plan

A council plan to disband Edinburgh's music school has been abandoned.

The City of Edinburgh's Music School, which has about 60 pupils, faced being split up across four sites in the city.

But the proposal led to an outcry from leading musicians, parents and pupils, who said the move could damage the country's cultural reputation.

The council said it had taken the decision to remove the music school plan - part of a bid to save £383,000 - from its budget consultation.

The music school is currently based at Flora Stevenson Primary and Broughton High School.

At a meeting of the City of Edinburgh Council's finance and resources committee on Tuesday morning, council leader Adam McVey said the authority had heard "strong views" from individuals and groups who supported keeping the school in its current format.

"With this in mind, we have taken the decision to remove the proposal for a Citywide Excellence and Equity Service out of the suite of proposals going forward for consultation," he said.

"The music school clearly has a fantastic reputation for musical excellence. We want to be sure that children of all backgrounds are given the opportunity to benefit from this and will look at alternatives proposals for doing so which will retain the current level of financial support and get the support of key stakeholders."

Mr McVey said the council still needed to find £21m of savings in order to deliver a balanced budget next year.

"This does mean the £363,000 of savings identified for this proposal will now have to be found elsewhere and we're working on these plans now," he added.

"I would encourage residents to have their say on the remaining proposals - which is all they are at this stage - and we will take all feedback into account before agreeing the budget in February."