Consultation on a proposal for the permanent closure of Blackness Primary School and the rezoning of its catchment area to Grange Primary School

Blackness Primary School Consultation Update – 13 February 2025

Following the decision of the Executive Committee on 13 February 2025 to approve the proposal to close Blackness Primary School, Falkirk Council has now informed Scottish Ministers of this decision in accordance with Section 15(2) of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 as amended.

Details for submitting representations to Scottish Ministers are as follows:

• By email - schoolclosure@gov.scot 

• By post - The Scottish Government, School Infrastructure Unit, 2A (South Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ

The deadline for making representations to Scottish Ministers is Wednesday 5th March 2025 (3 weeks from the decision date).

Falkirk Council's Executive Committee considered the findings of the statutory consultation on the future of Blackness Primary School at its meeting on 13 February 2025 and approved implementation of the proposal to permanently discontinue education provision at Blackness Primary School with effect from 27 June 2025 and that the pupils of Blackness Primary School receive their education at Grange Primary School from 30 June 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The Council is satisfied that implementation of the proposal is the best solution to address the underlying reasons for its formulation, namely:

• The capacity of Blackness Primary School is 50 pupils. The Blackness Primary School roll in August 2024 is 16 pupils giving an occupancy of 32%. This included 10 pupils living within the catchment area for Blackness Primary School and the remaining 6 are placing requests from other Falkirk schools or outside of the Falkirk Council area. 

• The number of pupils living with the catchment area of Blackness Primary School has been 10 or less since 2018.

• School roll projections have been developed using health board data on the number of pre-school children living in the Blackness Primary School catchment area. 

• Pupil projections indicate that catchment pupil numbers are expected to rise to 13 in 2027/28 and then start to decline. 

• There are no house building proposals in the catchment area of Blackness Primary School that would affect current projections.

The Council has carefully considered all the consultation feedback and reviewed the proposal to consider whether any of the representations led the Council to reconsider any other options as being reasonable alternatives to the proposal. The Council has accepted that the representations made during the consultation period have not provided any options which are reasonable alternatives to the proposal to close Blackness Primary School. The Council is satisfied that none of the alternatives considered is a viable or suitable option. Nursery provision is not viable. The site of the school does not make re-zoning viable. There is no other identified use for the school building. Mothballing is not appropriate as this process has been considered already. Keeping the school open does not address the underlying reasons for the proposal.

The Council has reviewed the Educational Benefits Statement that was prepared (see Section 9 of the Proposal Paper). The Council has accepted that the educational benefits; and effects as identified therein are still valid, and that there are positive educational benefits to be derived should education provision at Blackness Primary School be permanently discontinued.

The Council is satisfied that implementation of the proposal to close the school will not have a major effect on the sustainability of the Blackness community given its proximity to nearby settlements and services. Blackness Primary School building is not routinely used by the community as there is a separate Village Hall adjacent to the school. The closure of the primary school will not impact on the availability of the Community Hall for community groups/residents. The Council recognises that the community hall would lose income from school use and as such, equivalent transitional financial support will be negotiated with the Hall Management Committee to cover a period of 3 years. The Blackness community made strong representation about the involvement of pupils in community activities such as beach cleaning. In consequence of the proposal being implemented, the Council believes this should not have a significant impact on the ability of the Blackness community to continue to organise such activities. 

The Council has also considered the transport impact for pupils attending Grange Primary School instead of Blackness Primary School. Whilst there would be a small increase in the carbon footprint for the Council due to a slightly longer commute of up to 3 miles, Education Services is content this distance, and the travel times involved, are within the range which currently exist for other pupils across Falkirk. 

This notice is to inform interested parties regarding the decision made at Falkirk Council Executive Committee on 13 February 2025 to approve the proposal to close Blackness Primary School with effect from 27 June 2025. 

This notice is available in accordance with Section 11A(3) of the Act.