WORK on the new Knockroon Superschool has been put back until “late autumn”, East Ayrshire Council have confirmed.

Contractors Morrison Construction were due to begin site works later in the summer but construction may not get underway until November.

The delay is blamed on complex scheduling of the project however, the school is still expected to open in time for start of term in August 2019.

East Ayrshire Council’s head of facilities and property management, Andrew Kennedy, said: “With planning approval agreed for the Knockroon Campus, our preferred contractor is now preparing the individual work packages for tender.

“This is an incredibly complex time with many processes dependent on each other. This will establish cost certainty for the project prior to site start and it’s important we get it right at this stage, minimising any potential for additional costs.

“This has however had an impact on the site start date, which we expect will be in late autumn 2017 and, with a two year construction period, we expect to provide a phased handover of this exciting new campus for the Autumn 2019 term.”

Campaign group Save Broomfield, who are opposed to the school being built on the playing fields, were unimpressed at the news.

A spokesperson for the group said: “The Save Broomfield Group are not surprised to hear that the Superschool project has already been hit by delays.

“We regularly raised concerns that the lack of a clear masterplan for this development could lead to failures such as this, and these fears were magnified when East Ayrshire Council hastily arranged a planning committee meeting early in the life of the new Council – despite John Swinney advising that decisions of this magnitude deserve proper scrutiny. Sadly, it seems we have been proven right very early in the process.

“This is to be the biggest capital investment ever undertaken by East Ayrshire Council, but throughout this entire process, East Ayrshire Council have acted with great arrogance and ploughed ahead regardless of community concerns and warnings about this project, and the site suitability.

“We can only hope that East Ayrshire Councils hasty, and arrogant approach, to decision making during this process does not result in long term damage to the educational outcomes for our children.”