The council’s pound;100 million bid to replace and refurbish school buildings under a public private partnership aimed to use the existing Drummond special needs school site as the location but after strong representations from parents a multi-service “centre of excellence” will be built instead to cater for severe and profound special educational needs.

That leaves the council looking for a new site for the proposed Gaelic-medium primary; 128 nursery and primary children are currently on the roll. “Parents have made strong representations for a separate school,” Neil Murray, Inverness area education manager, said.

Bruce Robertson, director of education, has stated that a Gaelic-medium school remains a flagship project. But Andy Anderson, the education committee chairman, has stressed that ministers must provide the revenue costs.