The group issued a statement, signed West End Parents, after details of concerns about the planned replacement of Park Place and St Joseph’s primaries were reported in the Tele.

The statement said, “The West End Parents are not opposed to a new school, nor to a shared campus. We simply have some serious concerns about the size and suitability of the proposed site for bringing two primary and one nursery school together.”

The anonymous parents have set up a website summarising “some of the serious questions and concerns raised by a group of parents based on their current understanding of the proposal”.

On it they published questions about whether there were drug users and sex offenders around the new school site. The group said, however, they had never stated on the website sex offenders and drug addicts could pose a danger to pupils.

“We are simply asking the council to check whether sex offenders and drug addicts are in the vicinity of the proposed site,” they said.

“This is not intended to be scaremongering: the question was posed to the director of education at one of the consultation meetings and he has promised to investigate this with the police.

“No allegations have been made. We have only posed the question, asking for information regarding the truth from the council. If the claims are untrue, please let us know. What do local residents think?”

The council is seeking to replace Park Place primary and nursery and St Joseph’s with two new schools, bringing together Catholic and non-denominational education.

The vacant site had been earmarked for a mosque and cultural centre, but this is now planned for the defunct Bellfield Nursery site, next to the Al Maktoum Islamic institute.

Parents with concerns are being urged to write to the council’s PPP project director Gillian Ross Pond by next week. The Bishop of Dunkeld has said he is willing to discuss the shared campus proposal with anyone expressing concerns.