THE future of St Martin’s Primary School in Renton hangs in the balance and no decision will be taken until June at the earliest.

Parents at the under-threat school have vowed to go on fighting. A controversial proposal to merge it with St Mary’s was recently withdrawn from the agenda after 56 adults and more than 30 children took to the streets at the end of February to march in protest at the potential closure of St Martin’s.

West Dunbartonshire Council’s educational services committee this week noted plans to build a new £15.1m Renton Primary School and invest £850,000 extensively refurbishing St Mary’s Primary in Alexandria.

Drew MacEoghainn, from St Martin’s parent council, told the Reporter: “We didn’t hear anything to leave us optimistic about the future of St Martin’s, all they wanted to talk about were the other two schools.”

Further engagement will take place with parents, carers and pupils at St Martin’s Primary with a report on all three schools to be prepared and brought to the education meeting in June.

Depute convener of educational services, Councillor Caroline McAllister, added: “We have taken on board feedback from St Martin’s Parent Council and officers will engage with the wider parent body to get a clear view on their aspirations for pupils there.”

Speaking about the investment plans, convener of educational services, Councillor Karen Conaghan, told Wednesday’s meeting: “These plans will see hundreds of children move from buildings that are in poor condition to be educated in modern learning environments. Along with the new Renton Primary we will have a new purpose-built language and communications base for children with additional support needs.”

The report showed the £20m left in the 10-year capital plan by the previous Labour administration had been re-phased as follows 2018/19, £570,000; 2019/20, £5.25m; 2020/21, £9.5m; and 2021/22, £4.68m. The cost of refurbishing St Marys was £850,000 and Renton Primary £15.1m.

The total cost £15.95m would leave £4.05m to support other projects which could include a new school campus with a co-located St Martin’s and Renton Primary Schools, a language unit and early education.

The Scottish Government usually provides a third of the funding for new schools, so if the Renton Campus were to cost £20m, then the council would expect to receive around £7m from the Scottish Government towards the project.

Committee members questioned the support the council would be getting from the Scottish Government towards new build schools to help lift pupils out of C and D condition schools.

Councillor John Millar said: “Although there was no specific plan for St Martin’s in the recommendation we managed to get assurances that options for St Martin’s will be presented in June.”

One option is to rebuild.

Council leader Jonathan McColl confirmed no application for funding has been submitted yet to the Scottish Government.

He said: “All options have to be considered. I have met with the education secretary at the Scottish Government and told we are good to go with