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Lessons have been learned say council officials

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By Fiona Reid
Dumfries and West
Lessons have been learned say council officials

ASSURANCES have been given that lessons have been learned from council construction projects.

North West Dumfries Councillor David McKie asked officials for reassurances that phase two of the Dumfries Learning Town will be problem free.

He said: “Will we have input into the choice of contractor given what we have been through with Dalbeattie, the North West Campus, DG1, whatever else you want to name.

“Will we have any input into the choice there or to oversee the work as it is being done?”

Responding at Tuesday’s education committee meeting, Laran Foss said: “Yes, the key thing is the shared learning and lessons learned from all of those instances have filtered up, so every concern that we are discussing here are ones shared right up to national level.

“We are able to provide our views on Tier One contractors, however we are not in a position to select in that process. That said, our views have been taken on board and while we are not at that stage, I believe we will not be in the same position as we have been historically.”

He added: “Hopefully that should give reassurance we will not be in the same position again.”

Meanwhile, Annandale North Councillor Doug Fairbairn asked if there was a contingency plan if the funding bid to the Scottish Government for phase two of the Learning Town fails.

Mr Foss said: “We know as a council we have given a commitment to Loreburn Primary and the High School. We know there are condition issues.

“Should the bid be unsuccessful we need something in place to address these. There are options moving forward. In the short term, obviously we will continue to maintain these facilities to ensure staff and pupils are safe every day they are inside these spaces.

“It’s difficult knowing what the outcome of the bid will be, however we as a council need to be in the position we can move forward if it’s unsuccessful.”

Education committee chairman Cllr Jeff Leaver added: “This has been a long journey, we first agreed to the Learning Town in 2013.”

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