The present council intention of temporarily extending the Preston Lodge High School building to cater for children moving into the first stage of the new Blindwells development seems illogical.

Under the local plan, construction of a new secondary school is already scheduled to cope with the later stages of the Blindwells development.

Pending this new school being built, I imagine unsightly and unsatisfactory Portakabins will be added onto the already dilapidated Preston Lodge building, overcrowding its school hall and other facilities.

Would it not be far better to establish a new purpose-built super school, which would be able to cope with the combined school populations of both the Blindwells and Prestonpans areas, and also to start building this much earlier than currently envisaged?

I recently suggested this idea with a local councillor. While he liked the concept in principle, he indicated that the current agreement with the Blindwells developer meant that the council would not be able to afford going ahead with such a project.

This is because the developer is not obliged to produce any funds for a secondary school at Blindwells until a much later stage in the project’s development.

However, I have read recently in the Courier of least one instance – the postponing of improved access roads – where the council appears prepared to be bending over backwards to accommodate changes in the Blindwells development plan to suit the developer. Would it not be reasonable for the council to ask the developer if they might now reciprocate, by accelerating (and increasing) their contribution to the area’s school estate?

Building a new secondary ‘super school’ earlier than now planned would substantially enhance the sales value of the new houses in the first stages of the Blindwells development, as well as provide a better pupil experience for everyone in the Prestonpans cluster.

Angus Tulloch

Longniddry