Perth and Kinross Council is in negotiations to buy land to build a new Braco Primary School rather than extend and refurbish the existing school.
A local councillor has said building a new purpose-built school would be the "best way forward".
Braco's primary school building has been rated as poor by Perth and Kinross Council and initial plans to refurbish both Braco's school and village hall to improve the learning environment were found not to be cost-effective.
In 2019 the council permanently closed Greenloaning Primary School - due to a dwindling school roll - and pupils in the former Greenloaning catchment are now educated at Braco Primary School. The original plan was to decant pupils to the vacant Greenloaning Primary School building during construction works to the existing school. However, should a new site for the school be agreed this would remove the need to decant pupils.
A Perth and Kinross Council spokesperson confirmed negotiations are under way.
The PKC spokesperson said: "The council is in negotiations about purchasing land to build a new primary school rather than extend and refurbish the current primary school."
PKC's head of Business and Resources Greg Boland provided an update to PKC's Property Sub-Committee on Monday, May 1.
He said: "In recent times there has been discussions about potential land purchase which would allow the new school to be very close to the current school to be put in place. The benefit would be we wouldn't have to decant the pupils."
He told councillors they hoped to bring negotiations to a close "within the next fortnight".
He added: "If that offer to purchase land was successful we would come back to this committee seeking approval. It would obviously be subject to planning approval and this committee's approval to purchase the land.
Strathallan councillor Steven Carr is also vice convener of Perth and Kinross Council's Learning and Families Committee.
The SNP local councillor told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "A new purpose-built school is by far the best way forward to meet the needs of the community.
"Delays in the process required to deliver this have been frustrating, but I am hopeful now that negotiations are at an advanced stage that an agreement can be reached around the purchase of the land required and the project can be moved to the next stage."
The Learning and Families Committee's convener John Rebbeck added: "It is very important we are able to move this project along now, the community at Braco have been patient long enough."
Strathallan Conservative councillor Keith Allan said the new school was a "personal priority" and expressed frustration at the "lack of progress".
The local councillor said: "I was elected a year ago and building a new primary school for Braco and Greenloaning became a personal priority for me. I have been working tirelessly to get the council to finalise the purchase of the land needed to deliver a new, fully fit for purpose, school in Braco. Working with our Estates team, we identified the area required nearly nine months ago, and yet we still haven’t managed to secure the purchase of the land.
"The lack of progress is extremely frustrating for me, as I have endeavoured to establish a definite timeline for the purchase and build, so that this can be shared with the local community. I have requested an early meeting of all stakeholders so that this project can be moved forward, at pace, and I hope that both communities will have some good news, very shortly."
