AN ENVIRONMENTAL menace imported from Down Under is playing havoc with the building costs of a Highland school.
New Zealand flatworms have added at least £100,000 to the cost of putting up a new primary school on the Black Isle.
Land surveyors discovered tonnes of earth removed for the foundations of Cromarty Primary are infested with the environmental menace. However, environmental rules mean the soil cannot be reused for gardening or building properties, but must be disposed at landfill sites, incurring huge costs.
The total bill for removing the flatworms has yet to be finalised, but the project's cost has leapt by £750,000 to £2.75 million and the matter will today be reported to Highland Council's adult and children's services committee.
Councillor David Alston said: "There is a problem in Cromarty with New Zealand flatworm. I know, I have them in my own garden. But it was a very unwelcome discovery at the site of the proposed new school building.
"Normally somebody would want good quality top soil, but not if it's contaminated with flatworm."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article