EDUCATION secretary Jenny Gilruth has committed to meeting with the parents at the centre of Renfrewshire council’s £160m too small school scandal.

The promise from the minister came during a debate on education in Holyrood, after local MSP Neil Bibby said he was worried about the impact of the “catastrophic” blunder on pupils in his constituency, 

Due to an “error” by the council, the initial roll for the school was predicted to be around 430.

However, the actual roll should have been for 1,100 pupils.

With more houses being built around the school, the authority announced in February that they now expect 1,500 primary school children living in the village by 2033.

READ MORE: Dargavel school blunder could cost taxpayers in Renfrewshire £160m

As a result, they now need a new building with capacity for around 800 pupils. 

Dargavel Primary is part of the privately funded Dargavel Village project, a multimillion-pound development to build 4,000 new homes on the site of a former Royal Ordnance Factory by 2034.

As part of the agreement with the council, BAE systems paid for the new school.

But because they have built it to the specifications supplied to them by the council their obligations under what is known as the Section 75 agreement, are now discharged, leaving the authority to pick up the cost for the new primary at least.

The cost of the new building will be somewhere between £42m and £45m while extending the local secondary, Park Mains High School, to accommodate another 400 pupils will be between £27m and £30m. 

That means the upfront cost will be somewhere between £69m and £75. 

To fix the problem, councillors have agreed “prudential borrowing” to be paid back at £4m a year, with officials telling elected members that the repayments could last 40 years. 

That could mean costs reaching a staggering £160m.

They could increase again if, as parents expect, a new secondary school is required. 

READ MORE: MSP calls for public spending watchdog to probe £160m school scandal

Mr Bibby told MSPs: "I'm raising this not because this is just a little local difficulty but because this is a major and scandalous waste of taxpayers' money.

"It is the equivalent of £2,000 in tax for every Renfrewshire household. It's the equivalent of nearly one of the CalMac ferries that we've discussed many times in this chamber. 

"The original mistake was bad enough, but the response since by Renfrewshire Council has been woeful too.

"Parents have now lost confidence in Renfrewshire Council's chief executive and Director of Education. And they've also called on Council leader Iain Nicolson to consider his position."

He said there needed to be "accountability for this debacle and urgent solutions to ensure no child in Renfrewshire is left to pay the price of the council's incompetence."

Responding, Ms Gilruth told the parliament: “Neil Bibby has raised an important local issue in relation to school provision in Renfrewshire and Dargavel and I give him an undertaking that I will meet with him and the parents affected.”