Getty ImagesIslanders in Mull are taking their council to court over the decision of where to build a new school.
Argyll and Bute Council decided earlier this year to build the new £43m school campus close to the current high school in Tobermory.
Many parents wanted a more central location so that pupils in the south of the island would no longer have to travel by ferry to Oban for schooling and stay in hostels during the week.
The case will be heard at the Court of Session in Edinburgh later and a decision is expected further down the line.
A judicial review is a type of legal case where a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public authority.
It can’t force the council to change where they build the school, but it can rule that the decision was unlawful and ask them to carry out consultation processes again – which could lead to the same decision being made.
‘Last resort’
Joe Reade from the Mull Campus working group told Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme that being forced to send children off the island to board for school is an “arcane” thing to do.
He said: “It’s not something that any parent would want to go through. It’s positive for many, but for many it’s not.
“It’s something that should be fixed in a modern world where you have the opportunity to do so. It wouldn’t necessarily cost any more at all.
“This is the only legal avenue we have, the only tool we have and we’ve got to this stage very much as a last resort.”
The location of the island’s only high school has long been a source of division on Mull.
Pupils living in the north go to the school in Tobermory, but the commute is more than 90 minutes for those living in the south, and most travel to Oban on the mainland, staying in hostels during the week.
Funding was secured in 2023 to build a “like-for-like” replacement school on the Isle of Mull to replace the dilapidated Tobermory High School, which also houses a primary and nursery school.
A number of sites where the new school could be built were identified across the island.
Campaigners asked for another option, which included splitting the school campus up and building a secondary school in a new location while keeping a primary school in Tobermory.
The council said splitting the campus would cost the authority an extra £12m, and that any further delay could jeopardise promised Scottish government funding.
However, campaigners say they have had reassurance from the education secretary Jenny Gilruth that this would not put the funding at risk.
Councillors voted to go ahead with building the new school in Tobermory at a site near the existing school.
Campaigners launched a petition and held protests against the decision, and the issue has been debated at Holyrood.
Islanders raised almost £80,000 to fund the legal challenge – £50,000 of which was raised in just a week.
