The first local authority to fall foul of sportscotland's new guidelines is East Dunbartonshire, which is currently rebuilding six secondary schools under a £100m PPP initiative.

After assessing the council's plans, drawn before the guidelines were written, sportscotland has advised it that pitches at five of the schools may not be sufficient to deliver the PE curriculum.

Sportscotland has not objected to the proposals through the planning process because what is on offer will improve on what has gone before.

In the case of Douglas Academy in Milngavie, the facilities match those which have been recommended by sportscotland.

However, the fact that sportscotland has chosen to raise the issue with the council has provided an early glimpse of the battles that will be fought in local authority areas across Scotland in future years.

Members of Bearsden North Community Council have already written to the council raising the issue of pitches at Bearsden Academy and arguing that adjacent land earmarked for commercial development should be used for sporting facilities.

Meanwhile, parents from Bishopbriggs have raised similar concerns about proposals for the new Bishopbriggs Academy. "We were promised extra playing fields, but now it seems they are ones shared with two local primary schools, one of which is on the other side of a main road," said one resident.

However, Sandy McGarvey, head of resources at East Dunbartonshire's education department, said the financial and physical realities facing councils meant the sportscotland document was only aspirational.

"We would all like to see more sports facilities but there is a limit to what local authorities can do with the land and resources available. Not to take account of finance would be to fail in our duty of care as custodians of the public pound," he said.

Other schools involved are Kirkintilloch High, St Ninian's High and Turnbull High.