THE focus is on Dunfermline Learning Campus but Fife Council are also pushing ahead with plans for a £70 million replacement for Inverkeithing High.

Building work at Halbeath, to deliver new buildings for St Columba's and Woodmill by August 2024, should get under way this summer.

While there are a number of issues still to be resolved, the council insist they'll be ready to open a third new high school, for 2,000 pupils, at the Fleet Grounds in Rosyth two years later.

Service manager Louise Playford confirmed they were "on track" to deliver a replacement Inverkeithing High School by 2026.

She told the Press this week: "Plans are at an early stage and we'll begin the design process when a brief for the project has been developed."

Inverkeithing High, which opened in 1972, is category C for condition and suitability and the suggestion of a replacement on the current site was ruled out in 2019.

In November 2020, the education and children's services committee voted 14-4 in favour of building it at the Fleet Grounds.

The choices had been whittled down to two and, despite a concerted effort from the local community to choose a site across the A921 road from the current buildings, members opted for the Rosyth site, the cheaper option by £5.7m.

The council will still need to buy the land from the Ministry of Defence, start a public consultation and gain planning approval before a spade can dig into the ground.

And while the Scottish Government confirmed its share of the funding in December 2020, it's under a new model which puts more of the financial risk on the local authority.

Unlike the previous method, which saw Holyrood cover two-thirds of the bill, the council will have to pay all of the upfront costs.

That's put pressure on their capital plan 2021-31 which set aside £202m for secondary schools in West Fife, before they knew the details of the Government's new funding model.

Councillors reckoned it left them £22m short and the bulk of the money will be swallowed up by the Dunfermline Learning Campus.

The estimated cost of the schools element has already gone up by £11m to £122m and, like everyone else, the council is braced for rising prices.

As well as a replacement Inverkeithing High, the capital cash is supposed to fund improvements at Dunfermline High and Queen Anne.

Due to the rate of housebuilding, it's estimated the town's four high schools will need to accommodate an extra 1,100 pupils in the coming years.

Housing played a part in the decision to build the new Inverkeithing High in Rosyth – it's not yet known if they'll change the name – with the Fleet Grounds closer to the 2,000 new homes that will be built at Broomhall.

As well as capacity and financial pressures, the local authority need to deal with reputational damage concerning Rosyth FC, who have been dealt a poor hand.

The council accepted an offer for Recreation Park in 2016, to make way for a new Lidl store that has yet to be built, and the club was promised a new home at the Fleet Grounds.

The football club moved out in 2018 but are still in limbo and don't have a pitch to call their own, with space now limited at that site.

The council also has to decide what to do with the current Inverkeithing High.

Last month the results of a consultation in the town showed overwhelming support to retain the site for sports and leisure purposes, with 92 per cent in favour of keeping the community-use swimming pool at the school.

Amid fears it will be sold off to the highest bidder for housing, a petition calling for a sports and leisure complex on the site was signed by almost 500 people.