PLANS for a major primary schools merger have been scrapped after parents raised road safety concerns.

North Lanarkshire Council dropped the merger involving five schools in Airdrie over objections at public meetings to children crossing the busy A73.

The council had planned to merge St Dominic's and St Edward's on a joint Craigneuk campus with Tollbrae, and to amalgamate Dunrobin and Petersburn.

Now officials will get back around the table to discuss fresh proposals for a wider-ranging review in January.

Learning and leisure convener Jim Logue said: "There were several issues - such as whether Craigneuk Park is the best fit for St Dominic's, when the consensus is that it's part of the Petersburn community.

"The opinion of parent councils was about putting it in with Dunrobin and Petersburn, so we're asking if it's feasible to have three schools on that land.

"For Tollbrae and St Edward's, which would have been taken out of the Gartlea community, we're looking at whether there can be a joint campus in that area that obviates the need to cross the A73, which we all recognise is a major trunk road.

"Communities are rightly passionate about their schools and never want them to close.

"People often say, 'why our school?' and ask for them just to be refurbished - but that's like putting icing on a mouldy cake.

"The curriculum has changed but school buildings haven't, you can't change the design without significant investment and doing that requires new schools, with modern facilities such as group-work rooms, up-to-date ICT and flexible arrangements.

"Part of that is that we may have to rationalise some very small schools."

janice.burns@ eveningtimes.co.uk