THE new Peebles High is set to have the smallest assembly hall across the Borders despite being the largest school.

‘Design metrics and available budget’ have been listed as the reasons behind the plans.

A meeting involving council officers, teachers, an elected member and the Parent Council was held earlier this month.

It was arranged to allow all parties to “get a clearer understanding of the size of the hall in the new build” compared to the present facility.

On the meeting, Peebles Community Council member Sam Coe said: “The outline of the new hall was set out on the floor of the existing hall. It was noted that the new auditorium would be roughly half the length of the existing, while the drama studio – that would double as an extended stage area – would be roughly twice the length of the existing stage.

“There will be no raised stage.

“It was clear that the school staff had not fully appreciated that the new hall would be so much smaller than the existing, which emphasised that there had been no real consultation with the relevant staff at the earlier stages of the design process.”

The meeting – held on Tuesday, September 12, at the high school – involved Scottish Borders Council’s (SBC) project leader Steven Renwick; Karen Mooney, the depute with the faculty for expressive arts; drama teacher Sam Swinton; music teacher Mark Bisson; Tweeddale West councillor Viv Thomson; and Tristan Compton and Morag Stevenson, of the Parent Council.

The use of the hall for shows with musicians caused concern.

Mr Bisson said that, while the space was larger by 10 metres squared than he had imagined, it would be restrictive for the largest groups due to the “lack of width versus depth”.

Of further concern was the comparatively low ceiling, a deep structural beam crossing the space and the acoustically absorbent ceiling, which would make for a “poor music performance acoustic”.

The use of the new school’s gym hall had previously been dismissed as a music performance space.

Mr Renwick said he did not know where that came from and it was agreed that the gym hall could be used for larger scale music performances.

Retaining the existing hall as a community asset was discussed, and both music and drama teachers said they would welcome the extra space. This would be a significant undertaking by the community and would require support and cooperation from SBC, the meeting heard.

In the summer a spokesperson for SBC said: “The assembly hall within the existing school will not be retained.

“The new school has a performance and assembly space which will meet the needs of the school for performance and gathering, and is very well appointed within the building.”