Bishopton Community Council
Minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting held in The Cornerstone Church Centre -
Wednesday 28th January 2026
Present:
John Anderson; Jean Brown; Peter Bryson; John Mackintosh; Aileen McLean; Ewing Mitchell; Irene Miller; Kenneth Simpson; Moira Ramage; Kirsty Wilkinson; David Woodrow;
In attendance:
Cllr MacLaren; John Ramage; Sarah McCann; David Ross; Ross McCreight; Kelly Milford; Sarah Hamill
Apologies
Colin Camelford; Bill Sanders; Sam Marshallsay
Park Mains High School Extension – Potential Judicial Review
Meeting Purpose & Background
This EGM of the Community Council had been called to discuss and decide if the Community Council should progress the possibility of submitting a Judicial Review on Renfrewshire Council’s Planning approval of an extension to Park Mains High School.
This follows many years of campaigning for secondary provision in Bishopton as part of the Dargavel development.
This is now a time-sensitive decision as any judicial review must be filed by 3rd February 2026 (3 months from the date when Renfrewshire Council approved the planning application).
. Building work is scheduled to commence on 23rd March 2026
Judicial Review Grounds
· Three potential legal challenges:
o Council acted unlawfully
o Failed to follow proper procedure
o Decision unreasonable given circumstances
· Specific concerns identified:
o Inadequate planning consultation period (16 weeks for major application)
o Missing consultation with mandatory consultees (Erskine Community Council)
o Planning decision made in 6 minutes of council consideration
o Contractor selected before planning application submitted
Community Engagement
· It was agreed, at the Community Council meeting of 7th January 2026, that a community engagement campaign be carried out.
· A leaflet was prepared, containing a simple question, with a binary choice question. Leaflet distribution covered 40% of houses initially with the remainder of the village due to be completed by the end of the week. Social media was also used to due to weather delays.
· Reflex Blue, the survey company, reported unprecedented response rate for this type of survey, and anticipated another few thousand responses, once the leaflet distribution is completed.
· At the time of the meeting, it was noted that 984 responses supporting judicial review vs 88 opposing (91-92% support rate).
· Concerns raised about:
o Social media amplification potentially skewing results beyond local residents
o Question being misunderstood by participants – not understanding the Judicial Review process.
o Not all residents received leaflets yet
· It was noted that the consequences of the outcome of the survey can be decided later. The purpose of the consultation was to determine if there was an 'appetite' from the residents to pursue a challenge to the Council's planning decision on the PMHS extension.
Legal Process & Costs
· Initial meeting with legal counsel to determine if there is merit in pursuing a Judicial Review. This has been scheduled by MR for Thursday 29th January in Edinburgh. There are no defined costs for this - possibly up to £300.
· Process timeline:
o Lodge petition → 7 days for initial court review. The costs for this would be £3,000 + VAT.
o If accepted → Council gets 21 days to respond
o Full hearing could take 3-6 months, and the costs would be significant.
· It was noted that a crowd-funding exercise would be required to cover all the costs of the process, albeit the Community Council has some funds available which could, potentially, cover the initial costs.
Concerns Raised
· Construction delays could impact current pupils, as the work has been scheduled to minimise disruption during term-time.
· As the school is already over-capacity, which schools will new pupils require to attend
· Support for new Bishopton school but not at expense of immediate Park Mains needs
· Environmental and sustainability concerns about increased bus transport vs new school construction
· Costs of pursuing a Judicial Review and the risk of crowd-funding not being successful.
· Council reducing the 3 mile limit for school transport provision, causing some properties in Bishopton being excluded from this provision.
· Community division – tension between long-term Bishopton secondary school goal vs immediate Park Mains capacity needs
Next Steps
· Advocate consultation Thursday 29th January 2026
· If positive legal assessment → proceed with the submission of the Judicial Review
· Immediate crowdfunding campaign if case advances
· It was acknowledged that, due to the significant progress made by the sub-group on the preparation work for a Judicial Review, that it was pertinent to hold a vote to confirm there was agreement by members to proceed.
· Community council voted 6-5 to proceed with tomorrow’s consultation with automatic authorisation to file the petition if the outcome is that there is merit in the case.
3. A.O.C.B.
· N/A.
Close of Meeting
Meeting close – 9.05pm