§ 20. Mr. Prydeasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is aware of the lack of adequate educational facilities for children in the Easthouses-Newtongrange-Gorebridge area of Midlothian; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. J. StuartThe county council has made commendable progress in developing educational facilities to meet the expanding needs of this area. All children are receiving suitable education, 680 of them in a new primary school opened last August. Other schools are being built or extended to cope with the growing school population.
§ 21. Mr. Prydeasked the Secretary of State for Scotland why housing development has ceased at Easthouses, Newton-grange, Midlothian.
§ Mr. J. StuartArising out of discussions about the finance of this scheme, the National Coal Board intimated in 1953 that, because of the unexpectedly high proportion of juvenile labour which had been recruited into the mining industry from local sources, it would not be necessary to provide housing accommodation on the scale originally contemplated for miners moving into the area from other districts. As a result, it was decided to reduce the development from 2,260 houses to 1,270, all but 106 of which have been completed.