Rennie calls for inquiry by charity regulator into conduct of SRUC

North East Fife MSP Willie Rennie has backed calls for an inquiry by the charity regulator OSCR into the conduct of the leadership of the SRUC.

The call comes after the decision was taken to close down the animal care unit at Elmwood Campus in Cupar which will lead to the closure of the main building on top of the closure of the student accommodation and sale of the farm.

Willie Rennie is concerned about the lack of long-term planning, the lack of transparency in board affairs, a supposed consultation when the decision had already been made, the waste of public funds and failure to work with other local educational institutions to develop a regional plan for further education.

Willie Rennie said:

“As a charity, SRUC have special responsibilities but I am afraid they have not met them.

“I have been working closely with SRUC management for years and have encouraged them to develop a long-term plan for Elmwood but despite those endless pleas they have only taken a series of short-term, short-sighted decisions with the closure of the popular animal care course being the latest.

“Through that inaction they have allowed the main building, which is B listed, to deteriorate to such an extent that they are now seeking for it to be delisted prior to demolition.

“Despite Fife College moving out in 2016, SRUC made no effort to reconfigure the set-up at Elmwood which left the institution running a large deficit in Cupar.  For years, I personally urged the leadership to develop a plan to ensure the sustainability of the campus. The EIS also warned about the decision making at the SRUC back in 2016.

“The closure of the animal care unit means that the student numbers will fall to just a few hundred when the college once supported 2000 students complete with a farm, student accommodation and a golf course for educational purposes.

“The proceeds of the sale of the farm were not reinvested in the campus and instead were used to invest in developments on other sites in other parts of the country. There is no published plan to reinvest the sale of the land, on which the main building sits, back into the Cupar campus.

“The SRUC conducted a consultation on the closure of the animal care unit but the Principal later admitted that the decision had already been made. There is an issue of trust with staff, students and the community if they conduct consultations when decisions have already been made.

“There had been no engagement with local colleges prior to the original decision to close the animal care unit.

“There has been a lack of transparency with a failure to publish board papers and minutes since 2022 and even now, after I raised the issue, not all board meetings have been publicly recorded.

“I’m grateful to local campaigner Angela Anderson for submitting the referral to OSCR. An inquiry by OSCR would assist with ensuring that the leadership of the SRUC were complying with their charitable obligations.”