A former Ayrshire SNP councillor has been accused of scaremongering among Doon Valley voters over boys and girls' toilet provision at a new school in Dalmellington.
John Bell, who was embroiled in a spat over the retweet of a post that described First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as a treacherous b*****, has been accused of inferring that people should vote for him to ensure single sex toilets are installed in the Doon Valley Campus and not just gender neutral toilets.
East Ayrshire Council confirmed that the issue of toilets had already been dealt with and that local councillors already knew there would be both boys and girls toilets along with gender neutral facilities.
Jennifer Hogg, who is standing for the SNP in the ward, said she became aware of the issue when one woman said she feared for her daughter because of the claim, and decided she had to fight the 'misinformation'.
She stated: "It is tragic that a £33m investment in Dalmellington to provide state of the art education and community facilities to improve out children's education is reduced to inferences and half-truths about toilets from some candidates in this election."
Ms Hogg said that Mr Bell, who is standing as an independent council candidate, would be well aware that the plans include both male and female facilities as well as gender neutral ones, as he had been an SNP councillor up until March.
She added that the claims were worse, as the award winning Barony Campus in Cumnock had the same facilities in place.
"It is important to know that, when surveyed about the new buildings, young people themselves said they wanted a range of facilities that included gender neutral as well as same sex toilets," she added.
East Ayrshire Council confirmed the Doon Valley Campus would follow the Barony model.
A council spokesperson said: "There is a mixture of toilets for the children and young people with both unisex (full enclosed floor to ceiling) and banks of toilets which are designated as either girls’ toilets or boys’ toilets."
Not only had there been no issues raised about the Barony toilets, Ms Hogg said, they had been incorporated after young people were consulted about what they wanted to see.
We contacted Mr Bell to ask him whether he was aware that it had already been agreed that the new campus would have single sex toilets and, if he was aware, why he did not indicate this in his campaign material. We received no response.
Questions were also sent via social media to Cllr Bell but were also ignored and the reporter's social media account was 'blocked'.
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