Future of oil leak Gartly primary school to be considered

The future options for an Aberdeenshire school shut for more than two years amid work to deal with an oil leak are to be discussed by councillors.

Pupils from Gartly School were moved to another school after the incident in December 2018.

Some children were said to have been left feeling ill after the leak and resulting strong smell.

Reinstating the building would cost another £850,000, on top of £450,000 already spent, or it could close.

• Oil leak primary school 'may not reopen'

• School closed for months after oil leak

The school - which opened in 1962 and was extended in 1970 - closed on 17 December 2018, due to what was described as a "heating problem".

The leak of heating oil caused contamination.

Falling roll

The Gartly pupils were moved to Kennethmont School, but later moved to Rhynie School, about four miles away. The nursery at the school near Huntly also relocated to Rhynie.

In the meantime, Gartly's official school roll has fallen from 36 to eight.

More than £450,000 has been spent on remediation work so far with an expected additional £872,000 required to reinstate the building as a school.

Aberdeenshire Council's education committee will be asked on 28 January to consider giving the go-ahead to the reinstatement work, or to enter a further round of consultation on all options for the school's future.

Those include asking Scottish ministers to allow it to be permanently closed.