Error on plans for New Bishopbriggs High School development...

The PL78 LOCATION PLAN document posted on the council planning website indicates that the former Bishopbriggs High School Site as the 'SITE OF FORMER THOMAS MUIR HIGH SCHOOL'

View the full pdf file here

Plans for 147 new homes on site of old Bishopbriggs High School site

Councillors are soon to decide if they will grant planning permission for 147 new home development on the site of the former Bishopbriggs High School Site.

Barratt Homes is seeking approval for five blocks of flats and 35 three-bedroomed town houses on vacant land off South Crosshill Road.

Barratt's supporting statement reads: “The proposals described within this Masterplan Framework / Design and Access Statement have been developed by Barratt Homes in response to published guidance set out by East Dunbartonshire Council. “This statement supports the submission of a full planning application for the development of new homes in Bishopbriggs, a town in East Dunbartonshire.” 

No Swinson as Jo Swinson seat won by SNP

TEN YEARS on from the Liberal Democrats decision to build the new Bishopbriggs High School on the site of the old Thomas Muir school on the outskirts of the town.

The general election 2019 sees Jo Swinson lose her seat to the SNP.

Despite the then Lib Dem run council asking the people of Bishopbriggs to decide where the new school should be built, and the people deciding to built it on the existing Bishopbriggs High School site. The council ignored the people and voted against that democratic decision and decided to build the new school on the Thomas Muir, out of town, site.

At the next local council election the Lib Dems administration was humiliated when they lost.

On the old Bishopbriggs High School site the new £800,000 sports hall was first thing to be demolished by the demolition company. After investigation it was deemed to have been a mistake, and NO further action was taken.

Today, 10 years on, the old Bishopbriggs High School site remains derelict and empty.

New homes continue to be built in Bishopbriggs and the demand for secondary school places sees the council having to consider placing pupils inside the Bishopbriggs Academy catchment in other schools.

Maybe they could build a new school on the unused High School site - it's still the best option, in my opinion.

More to follow...

As we start 2016 the Bishopbriggs High School site remains empty - the £800,000 sports arena is still demolished 6 years on

The community of Bishopbriggs could still be using the £800,000 sports hall  on the old Bishopbriggs High School site if it hadn't been demolished (by accident).

Years after the decision by East Dumbartonshire council to build the new school, against the public consultation, on the Thomas Muir Site, we're still waiting for a use at the high school site.

In May 2010 the new £800,000 sports hall on the Bishopbriggs High School site was demolished 'by mistake' and without permission.

Now over 6 years later the site still remains empty.

No action was taken against anyone over the 'mistake'.

Bishopbriggs lost a publicly funded sporting asset only to see the site remain derelict and empty to this day.

What do you think East Dumbartonshire Council. should have done?

Bishopbriggs lose out on five years use of new sports hall - demolished by mistake in 2010

In May 2010 the new £800,000 sports hall on the Bishopbriggs High School site was demolished 'by mistake' and without permission. Now over 5 years later the site still remains empty.

No action was taken against anyone over the 'mistake'. 

Bishopbriggs lost a publicly funded sporting asset only to see the site remain derelict and empty to this day. What do you think East Dumbartonshire Council. should have done?

Almost two and a half years since sports hall was demolished site still remains empty

Should the people of Bishopbriggs have been allowed to use the almost new £800,000 sports hall for two years after it was demolished by mistake in May 2010?

The hall had it's own access road and car park, it could have continued to be used by the community until a decision had been made on the sites future. Yet, despite being demolished before the school by mistake, the site remains un-used and without a concrete plan for it's future.

The main losers were the fine people of Bishopbriggs.

Download the the May 2012 Morrison plans for Bishopbriggs Town Centre (A new vision for Bishopbriggs) and decide for yourself

New plans for Bishopbriggs Town Centre released in May this year with new larger Morrison store and petrol station. New access to site and social area, with images plans and drawing this 8 page pdf has all the information.

To download the pdf file (2.6mb) - click here

Morrisons new plan for the Bishopbriggs High School Site

Click to see large version

Here's an animation of the scale of Morrisons development overlaid over the old view of Bishopbriggs High School and the demolished sports hall.

Site Value Dropped? Bishopbriggs High School site value goes from £11.52 million to £7.75 million...

The item on the Council minutes for the 30 June 2010 regarding the above excludes the public as noted below:

EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

It is recommended that the Council pass the following Resolution:-
“That under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, as amended, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they may involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1, 8, 9 & 11 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act”.
….. 8524 16 Disposal of Former Bishopbriggs High School Site – Report by Director of Development & Infrastructure. (Copy herewith) 65-70

Our interpretation of the above is that East Dunbartonshire Council anticipated at one time making a capital receipt of £11.52m from this site, but that estimate has had to be revised downwards to £7.75m.

Read the full post here on the Cleddens Residents Blog

No action to be taken over Bishopbriggs sport hall demolition without permission

Morgan Sindall, the company responsible for the Bishopbriggs High School demolition site, will have no action taken against them after it emerged they demolished the £800,000 sport hall with a warrant. The old school was left standing while the controversial, seven-year-old hall, was first to be demolished.

The information was sent to the Procurator Fiscal and they decided to take no further action.

Are we surprised?

You try knocking down anything without permission and see what happens...

Read the story and see the pictures on the Kirkintilloch Herald website...

Disgrace as Bishopbriggs Sports Hall demolisted without permission - The hall cost almost £1m just seven years ago!

As reported in the local press, the Sports hall, built only seven years ago at a cost of almost £1m, has been demolished. The hall, in the grounds of former Bishopbriggs High School, appears to have been demolished without the proper permission by Morgan Ashurst. Permission is now being processed through the council.

As anyone who has read this blog will know I stated the intentions of the council to allow the hall to be demolished to make way for a new development in the grounds of the old high school.

The council rejected public consultation to build the new school on the grounds of the High School. At the time the council was under the control of the Liberal Democrats but almost all of the councilors lost their sets in the last local election.

Bishopbriggs Sports hall facing demolition - again!

CONFUSION surrounds the fate of an £800k sports hall in Bishopbriggs.

Muse Developments submitted an outline planning application in May to transform Bishopbriggs town centre as part of a £32million project.

The proposals included the option to keep the former Bishopbriggs Academy sports hall after residents opposed to it being knocked down.

A campaign group was asked to come up with a business plan to run the hall as a community facility.

Read the full story here on the Kirkintilloch Herald website.

Source: Kirkintilloch Herald

Bishopbriggs housing plans on school land put on hold

PLANS to build 50 new homes on the site of a bus terminus have been put on hold to allow councillors to visit the location.Developers MacTaggart and Mickel want to create 10 town houses and 40 flats on surplus land at the former Thomas Muir High School, in Bishopbriggs.

However, several residents have objected to the proposals because the development would be built on a bus terminus, as well as concerns over the increase in traffic and noise they fear it would create.

The plans went before the council's planning board last week and were recommended to be granted, subject to a list of conditions, one being that an alternative bus terminus is provided in the area prior to work starting on the development. 
Following a site visit, the plans will go before the next planning board on June 30. 

Meanwhile, plans to build 32 new homes on a derelict site have been continued, for the second time, to a planning board meeting later this month. 

Hallam Land Management Ltd want to create 32 new homes - including at least 40 per cent affordable housing - on a site adjacent to Kirkintilloch Road, in Bishopbriggs. 
However, the application has been recommended for refusal because of concerns over access. 
The application has been continued to allow for talks to try and find a soloution to the issue with access.

Source: Kirkintilloch Herald

Locals near the building site of the new Bishopbriggs Academy claim construction staff are ignoring planning conditions by working on bank holidays.

FED-UP residents have been forced to keep the windows closed on bank holidays.

Donald Macdonald, chairman of Woodhill Residents' Group, said: "Over two years ago, the residents' group, along with local school boards, Torr Road residents and Bishopbriggs Community Council, took part in a planning hearing involving all 24 councillors.

"We were told that the 46 conditions applied to the site would protect our local amenities and properties.

"What we have since discovered is that no one in East Dunbartonshire Council is prepared to enforce any conditions that will inconvenience the builders."

Read the full story on the Kirkintilloch Herald site here...

School buildings a ‘scandal’ claims expert

From today's Herald...

A high proportion of new school buildings in Scotland are of completely unacceptable quality and being thrown up with no regard for the future needs of education, one of the architects of the current curriculum review is set to warn.

Keir Bloomer sat on the group which wrote A Curriculum for Excellence and was chief executive of Clackmannanshire Council for seven years. He is to speak at a conference in Glasgow next week, when he will warn that school buildings too often reflect a society that places little value on children and young people.

The event is part of the Future Scotland Debates series and takes place at the Scottish Parliament on June 10.

Read the full story here on the Herald website...

Town Centre Plans - first image flats and Care Home...

Click image to enlargeCheck out this picture of the plans on display at the Bishopbriggs Library. 

You can see the plans include three storey flats, sorry 'townhouses'  on South Crosshill road. Five storey flats behind the new Morrisons. 

Now look at the size of the care home.

More posts to follow...

Bishopbriggs High School £800,000 Sports Hall to be demolished just years after completion...

The Bishopbriggs High School (Academy) Sports Hall is coming down.

Just years after it was hailed as a great addition to community, now the council plan to demolish - it cost the tax payers almost £1 million to build.

As the comment on the last post said " So much for helping our children's level of fitness or providing activities other than hanging about the streets".

From Jo Swinson's website...

"Sports hall demolition would be a ridiculous waste"

In a survey of Bishopbriggs residents released by Jo in 2008, 93% of respondents said they would like to retain the existing sports hall. (the majority also want to keep the school on the High School site)

The building, said "We have not managed to find a viable use for the sports hall." (How about a Sports Hall?)

Jo says "it shows either an amazing lack of creativity or total disregard for the views of local people"


Members of the public will be invited to an exhibition at Bishopbriggs Library on 6th from 10am-2pm and 7th March from 10am-1pm to offer their feedback on this and other proposals for the development of the town centre.

Read her full post here...

PPP deal councils axe school pitches

School sports pitches have been sacrificed by one-third of Scottish councils undertaking building programmes financed by controversial public private partnerships, The Herald can reveal today.

Official figures from SportScotland, the national sports development agency, show 10 of the country's 30 authorities that have used PPP projects to improve their school estate between 1996 and 2008 now have fewer playing fields.

Read the full post on The Herald's website here...

Public to see plans for Bishopbriggs Town Centre

New Bishopbriggs Town Centre Plans...

A Public exhibition will take place on Friday 6 March between 10am-2pm and on Saturday 7 March between 10am-1pm in Bishopbriggs Library.

Builder pulls out of plans to build homes on Bishopbriggs High School site..

Plans for the Bishopbriggs High Schools site suffered a blow when Mactaggart and Mickel withdrew their application to build 154 homes on the high school site.

East Dunbartornshire Council are waiting to see the new 'masterplan' for the whole site as requested by the council. Fears of local residents that the sports hall, built with £1 million of public funds, may not survive the plan.

Read the rest of this blog to find out the history of the Council's decision to go against public consultation and move the school to the site of Turnbull High on the outskirts of Bishopbriggs...