Julie Edge, Minister for Education, Sport and Culture, says that progress with the replacement of Castle Rushen High School is imminent.
It comes as she was asked by both Jason Moorhouse, MHK for Arbory, Castletown and Malew, and the Speaker of the House, Juan Watterson, about the timescale of the development during this week’s Tynwald meeting.
The development is a plan to replace the current southern school buildings, which has been a long-running project and has had nearly £100,000 spent on studies and briefings.
Ms Edge told Tynwald that the department submitted its case in February, putting together further information for the Strategic Asset and Capital Investment Committee.
She said that the department is acting accordingly under the new process for capital bids, and that she accepts that this has been going on for a considerable amount of time, but it was a priority for her.
When pressured to give a more detailed timescale, she said that the ball was rolling with the Treasury, once it was approved it would be imminent.
She said that her expectation is that it will be the next opportunity to put in the capital bid process, which is July. Ms Edge said: ‘I will be doing everything I can from an education point of view to make sure we have the timeline that can be published.’
She said that she would like to provide the date that the spade is in the ground, but until the department has a full approval from Treasury, she won’t be able to do that.
Tim Glover, MHK for Arbory, Castletown and Malew, asked whether the school’s senior leadership team had been made aware of the concept design.
Ms Edge said that the head teacher at Castle Rushen was aware of the concept design, but she would make sure the senior leadership team was aware too.
She said that it is an important piece of work in the south and that all stakeholders should be engaged.
The minister added that she will be working with the Treasury to ensure that they can put out as much information as possible to give an indication of how it will be progressed.