500 signatures reached
To: Comhairle nan Eileanan Siar, Alasdair Allan MSP, Angus Brendan MacNeil MP, Scottish Government
HALT THE HUB
To halt the plan to replace Castlebay Community School with a 'Community Hub' so that a major rethink can take place.
If the Comhairle is going to spend £53M on a development on Barra they shouldn't dismiss opinions expressed by the people living on Barra.
If the Comhairle is going to spend £53M on a development on Barra they shouldn't dismiss opinions expressed by the people living on Barra.
Why is this important?
The consultation with the local community where most expressed a wish to have separate buildings for different local services appears to have been ignored by the decision makers in the Comhairle and the Scottish Government. Some of the concerns voiced recently are that:
The design concept picture does not suggest the building is remotely in keeping with the style of any other building on the island.
As the plan to build the hub involves the demolition of the existing assets, children will have no access to football pitch, cage, play park, swimming pool and games hall for a number of years. This will resulting in a complete lack of social/play areas for the children of the island during the entire build phase. There are currently no plans to reinstate the play park in hub design. These areas are used almost daily by many children ranging in age from all over Barra and Vatersay. Having no recreational areas in Castlebay for children can only have a negative impact on health and well being.
There is still a main road passing through the middle of the proposed campus. This means that the various pupil sets will be crossing the main road to access pool, games hall/performance hall facilities several times a day-losing learning time, stopping traffic and putting the safety of the children at risk more often than in the current school.
In the age of COVID 19 there are concerns about maintaining biosecurity in a single building that will potentially contain; the primary school, the secondary school, police, children's centre, the preschool, a café, the GP, the hospital, the dentist, and old folks home. This may also merit a rethink to the hot-desking plan where dedicated offices are to be replaced with a 'work-hub'. Such elements may make the island far more vulnerable in any future pandemic.
Having the surgery entrance located within the confines of a a community cafe does not allow for patient discretion or confidentiality as it would if they were situated separately.
The decision to label the replacement for the old folks home as 'social care flats' suggests a lower level of observation for people who have to meet a fairly high threshold of inability to care for themselves before being sent to the existing old folks home.
The preschool and the children's centre being replaced with sections situated either end of the school area of the hub (resulting in the garden space of the preschool being half the size of the current garden area)
The practical craft skills workshop appears to be a downgrade compared with the current facility in the existing school.
The design concept picture does not suggest the building is remotely in keeping with the style of any other building on the island.
As the plan to build the hub involves the demolition of the existing assets, children will have no access to football pitch, cage, play park, swimming pool and games hall for a number of years. This will resulting in a complete lack of social/play areas for the children of the island during the entire build phase. There are currently no plans to reinstate the play park in hub design. These areas are used almost daily by many children ranging in age from all over Barra and Vatersay. Having no recreational areas in Castlebay for children can only have a negative impact on health and well being.
There is still a main road passing through the middle of the proposed campus. This means that the various pupil sets will be crossing the main road to access pool, games hall/performance hall facilities several times a day-losing learning time, stopping traffic and putting the safety of the children at risk more often than in the current school.
In the age of COVID 19 there are concerns about maintaining biosecurity in a single building that will potentially contain; the primary school, the secondary school, police, children's centre, the preschool, a café, the GP, the hospital, the dentist, and old folks home. This may also merit a rethink to the hot-desking plan where dedicated offices are to be replaced with a 'work-hub'. Such elements may make the island far more vulnerable in any future pandemic.
Having the surgery entrance located within the confines of a a community cafe does not allow for patient discretion or confidentiality as it would if they were situated separately.
The decision to label the replacement for the old folks home as 'social care flats' suggests a lower level of observation for people who have to meet a fairly high threshold of inability to care for themselves before being sent to the existing old folks home.
The preschool and the children's centre being replaced with sections situated either end of the school area of the hub (resulting in the garden space of the preschool being half the size of the current garden area)
The practical craft skills workshop appears to be a downgrade compared with the current facility in the existing school.
