A PLEA for a rethink of a 25-year-old 'anomaly' over the catchment area of a Helensburgh school has won unanimous support.

Helensburgh and Lomond South councillor Richard Trail asked his colleagues to back his call over the zone in which pupils at St Joseph's Primary qualify for free transport to and from school.

He told a full council meeting that the catchment area for the only Roman Catholic school in Helensburgh and Lomond doesn't include a stretch of the A82 between Cameron House Hotel and Glen Douglas.

That means pupils living in Luss, Inverlochy, Arden and Auchendennan who attend St Joseph's aren't eligible for free transport. 

Councillor Trail said: “A reasonable person looking at the catchment of St Joseph’s Primary School in Helensburgh is likely to express surprise when examining the boundary carefully.

“They would see that it follows the boundary of the Helensburgh and Lomond area apart from a narrow strip down the side of Loch Lomond from Inverbeg to Cameron House. It excludes the small settlements of Luss, Inverlochy, Arden and Auchendennan.

“The boundary is significant in that it confers benefits on those within it. A child who lives more than two miles from the school but is within the catchment is entitled to school transport being provided by the local authority. That is a statutory duty put on councils.

“Our reasonable person would ask why a child in Ardlui, 25 miles from the school, is entitled to school transport and a child from Luss, nine miles from the school, is denied this privilege. It is as if the boundary has been drawn carefully to exclude this zone from the school catchment.

“I do not believe that it has been a piece of gerrymandering with mal-intent. It has come about by an oversight a quarter of century earlier.”

The Old Luss Road school was inherited from the former Dumbarton District Council when Argyll and Bute Council was formed in 1996.

Councillor Trail added: “Helensburgh and Lomond used to be part of Dumbarton District Council along with the Vale of Leven.

"At that time the families in Luss wishing to send their child to a Catholic primary school would find it convenient to attend one in Alexandria rather than Helensburgh.

“When local government was reorganised in 1995, the Helensburgh area left Dumbarton and became part of Argyll. The new boundary for Argyll and Bute now cuts across the A82 at Cameron House.

“The settlements from Luss to Auchendennan became marooned outside of the catchment of their nearest Catholic primary school. This is patently unfair.

“There is a family at the heart of this story who have lived with this injustice for several years and are now finding it increasingly difficult because of illness within the family.

“It is stressful to be ferrying the child to and from school with visits to hospital and holding down a full time job.

“This anomaly has existed for 25 years. It is time to rectify it and I urge you to support this motion and recommend to the education authority vested in the community services committee that it initiates the procedure to amend the catchment boundary.”

Cllr Trail's motion, seconded by Cllr Iain S. Paterson (SNP, Lomond North), was unanimously agreed at the council’s full virtual meeting on Thursday, November 25.

The matter will now be referred to the council’s community services committee, who will consider the next steps on December 16.