Scottish schools hit by dozens of sewage leaks, council data show

More than 80 sewage-related leaks and other incidents have been recorded at schools across Scotland over the past four years, according to information held by councils.

Eleven of the country’s 32 local authorities confirmed that leaks had taken place within schools since 2019, with 17 saying none had happened and four not providing information.

The data was disclosed following Freedom of Information requests to councils by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, which has been campaigning for an overhaul of the country’s “Victorian sewage system”.

Earlier this year the party discovered that almost 200 sewage leaks have been recorded in hospitals across Scotland over the past five years, with half of the nation’s NHS boards affected by the problem.

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Councils were asked whether any schools in their area had reported leaks resulting in “sewage coming into school buildings (through ceilings, walls etc)”.

The resulting data showed that a total of 88 sewage-related leaks were recorded since 2019. Twenty-six were reported by schools in South Lanarkshire, 15 in Renfrewshire, 14 in Stirling and 11 in Highland. The names of the schools were not disclosed.

Five leaks were reported in Aberdeen, five in Argyll and Bute, five in West Lothian, three in East Ayrshire, two in the Borders, one in Clackmannanshire and one in East Renfrewshire.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the figures would be “worrying news for parents and pupils across Scotland”.

“I hope that local authorities will be able to offer assurances that these issues have been addressed and will not happen again,” he added.

“The Scottish Government have starved local authorities of the money needed to overhaul aging schools for years. They must urgently work to ensure local authorities are properly funded, upgrade Scotland’s Victorian sewage systems and prevent incidents like these.”

Joanne Forbes, South Lanarkshire Council’s head of property services, said: “All of our schools are inspected and maintained regularly to ensure facilities are functioning correctly and any issues of blocked toilets or leaking drains are dealt with immediately.

“It should be noted that none of the incidents adversely affected the operation of any of our schools, all of which have been rebuilt or modernised in recent years.”

Renfrewshire Council said that such leaks were “repaired as quickly as possible to prevent wider damage and disruption to the school”, while Stirling Council said the incidents it had reported related to blocked drains or toilets.

“All were fixed on the day they were reported and caused minimum disruption to the school day,” a Stirling spokesman added.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The maintenance of school infrastructure is the responsibility of individual local authorities.

“Since 2007, the number of schools in ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’ condition has increased from 61 per cent to 90.4 per cent – a 77 per cent reduction in pupils educated in substandard conditions.

“The upcoming £2bn investment in the school estate through our Learning Estate Investment Programme is intended to build on that progress.”