The City of Edinburgh Council and the Edinburgh Schools Partnership (ESP) have announced a proposed settlement agreement following the closure of 17 schools in 2016.

The 'Edinburgh Schools Partnership – Settlement' report will be discussed by Councillors at the Finance and Resources Committee on Tuesday 04 December.

Some of key proposed settlement terms include:

• all structural and other defect rectification works have been carried out at the sole expense of ESP or their subcontractors

• the Council will keep an agreed sum of money regarding the structural defects and fire-related works, ensuring that that there has been no cost to the public purse

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• ESP has agreed to open the PPP1 buildings for longer hours at no cost to the Council on an ad-hoc basis to allow them to be used for sports and other activities

• there will be an additional, new independent inspection and monitoring regime throughout the PPP1 estate to provide both ESP and the Council with increased assurance

The proposed settlement sums exceed the associated closure-related costs incurred by the Council. Money from the settlement will be used to carry out any further remedial works identified on buildings across the whole Council estate including schools.

Council leader Adam McVey said: "This has been a lengthy and complex process but I’m pleased that we've been able to reach an agreement with ESP. This settlement provides significant benefits to our schools and local communities and crucially means the works carried out on the PPP1 schools came at no cost to the Council. There will now be additional inspections on the PPP1 buildings and increased opening hours for those facilities. Reaching this agreement also means we can avoid potential lengthy and costly legal proceedings for both parties and return to our focus of providing world-class facilities for our young people."