A special meeting of West Dunbartonshire Council’s educational services committee takes place tomorrow (Wednesday) and education chiefs have recommended the £16million project goes ahead.

Councillors will be asked to approve the closure of Haldane and Jamestown Primaries, which will be merged into a new as-yet-unnamed primary school.

The new school would be built at the existing site of St Kessog’s Primary, which will also be re-built as part of the project.

A new base for children with additional support needs will form part of the site.

Controversial plans to move Jamestown pupils out of their school and into Haldane while the work is carried out have been scrapped after it was discovered there would not be enough space.

Instead, it is recommended that St Kessog’s pupils move into the Haldane building during construction.

In a report set to go before councillors tomorrow, the council’s education director Terry Lanagan said results of a consultation into the changes showed the majority of people supported the proposal if Jamestown pupils were allowed to stay in their building until the new school is complete in 2017.

He also dismissed allegations that the the Catholic Church intervened in the process.

It was suggested Archibishop Philip Tartaglia had ‘strongly recommended’ St Kessog’s pupils were moved into Jamestown Primary for the new campus to be built.

Mr Lanagan said: “The most commonly expressed concerns about the proposal were concerns about the recommended site, namely that it is too small, there would be too many children in one campus and that there would be traffic management and road safety issues.

“Three alternative sites were suggested: the present Haldane campus; open ground behind Levenbank Terrace; and Inler Park. With regard to size, officers are confident the St Kessog’s site, together with some adjacent ground which would be incorporated into the campus, is easily large enough to accommodate all of the proposed facilities.” He said a traffic impact analysis would be carried out before the schools open and council officers are ‘confident safe solutions can be found’ to increase current safety levels at the three schools.

In a separate report, Mr Lanagan recommends closing Highdykes and Ladyton Primaries in Bonhill, and moving pupils into a refurbished St Ronan’s Primary building, under a new name yet to be chosen.

St Ronan’s Primary would then be moved into the vacated Ladyton Primary, with cash also spent upgrading this building.

Ladyton Nursery would also move to the site at St Ronan’s and a new Jamestown Nursery would be built.

The Bonhill schools public consultation showed a majority of parents and pupils at the three schools opposed the merger and relocation.

However, staff at Highdykes and St Ronan’s — and teaching union the Educational Institute for Scotland — backed the plans.

If approved, the land at Highdykes will be sold off to developers for an estimated £1.6million covering the cost of renovations with £119,000 left over which would go to the St Kessogs/Jamestown/Haldane project.

Mr Lanagan added: “Much of the opposition to the proposal is a tribute to the quality of education offered and the ethos which exists in each of the three schools affected by this proposal.” He said evidence shows children ‘quickly adapt to new circumstances’ when schools are merged or moved and a traffic assessment would be carried out to allay concerns about road safety.