Cork school hopes for green light after seven-year wait for planning
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The nervous wait is almost over for Cork Educate Together Secondary School which expects to receive a long-awaited planning decision on its permanent school building on Monday.
The school, the first of its kind to open outside of the Greater Dublin area, has been housed in temporary accommodation since it opened seven years ago.
If planning is approved by Cork City Council, it clears the way for construction to begin on the 22-acre site on Carrigaline Road, expected to take approximately two years.
The school is temporarily based at Griffith College, near St Luke’s in Cork City.
The implications of the planning decision are significant, said principal Colm O’Connor.
“We’ve already been in temporary accommodation for seven years," he said.
“It’s a constant distraction. We’ve never had a front door key for a building, never had control over a building in the evening.
“We have to send the students on buses straight away after school to beat the traffic, so half the school jumps on buses within minutes of the school closing.
"It affects our ability to have after-school study or extracurricular activities, just normal things that are a part of normal school life.
"We're kind of creeping up there now in terms of one of the more difficult examples [of a new school opening] nationally," Mr O'Connor added.
If the school receives a positive result, it could still be appealed to an Bord Pléanala, Mr O’Connor said.
“The problem is, an Bord Pléanala is in such disarray at the moment, just by an appeal happening, it could delay it by another couple of years.
“We could face a situation where there would be a two-year wait for a decision, and then a two-year build, so it could still be four years.
"That will be 11 years since the school first opened. That’s assuming that it’s a yes.”
Sanctioned in 2015 and opened in September 2016, progress with the school’s permanent building hit a planning setback in 2018.
Permission was refused on traffic grounds by Cork County Council and upheld by an Bord Pléanala.
The planning inspector who had visited the site had recommended that the project go ahead.
Mr O’Connor said: “The board itself rejected the advice of the inspector, so it was very close the last time. It’s not unheard of but it’s still galling.”
The number of questions requested from the school for this application under further information was limited.
“We don’t know if that’s a good sign or not," he said.