THE future of joint faith school campuses in Scotland is in doubt amid threats by the Catholic church that it intends to pull out of a £150m flagship project.

Senior church officials have warned they will refuse to use seven primary school sites in Lanarkshire because they do not want Catholic pupils sharing facilities with non-Catholics.

They are calling for a halt to any further joint campus projects until the issue is resolved. The threat by the Catholic church is an embarrassing setback for Jack McConnell, the first minister, who has voiced his support for shared schools as a first step to tackling Scotland’s sectarian problem.

Tensions were raised last week when parents called an emergency meeting following a series of violent incidents at Dalkeith and St David’s RC high schools — Scotland’s only shared secondary campus.

In one incident, a 15-year-old boy was hospitalised after being set upon by a gang, while in another a girl had to have glass removed from her eye after her school bus was stoned by pupils.

Parents, supported by Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the leader of Scotland’s Catholics, are demanding “safe” areas in the shared playground for pupils who feel threatened or intimidated.

Midlothian council is considering hiring extra staff to patrol the playground as well as extending the use of CCTV cameras to cut the risk of future violence.

“Like it or not this is a large social science project,” said John McHenery, the chairman of St David’s school board. “If this was a laboratory experiment and the animals were being injured then those involved would have to stop the study.”

The North Lanarkshire project, due to be completed in 2010, involves seven primary schools with Catholic and non-denominational pupils in separate accommodation sharing the same site.

However the Catholic church is unhappy at the arrangement which it fears could signal the first step on the road to the abolition of denominational schools. It wants the schools to have shared dining rooms and playgrounds but separate entrances, staffrooms, staff toilets, gyms and nurseries.

Officials have made it clear that unless North Lanarkshire council provides written guarantees that their demands will be met, they will withdraw.

“This could be the end of shared campuses and it has given the Catholic church cause to stop and think,” said Michael McGrath, the director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service.

Jim McCabe, the leader of North Lanarkshire council and a Catholic, said he remained hopeful that a compromise could be reached. But he added: “I do not see the need for two separate adult entrances when the campus is being used by the local community.”

McConnell last week insisted that the violence at the Dalkeith campus should not deter future projects.

“Any incident of violence at any school in Scotland is a serious issue and requires action by the council and by the head teachers and I am sure they will take that very seriously,” he said.

Times Recommends

• A vicar’s wife: ‘There is no one to fight for us’
• Every little helps at the supermarket
• Ugg or Fitflop? The battle of the boots