COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
QUESTION NO. 16: Councillor W. Lavelle
"To ask the Manager to provide a detailed report, including maps, showing the sites of both the proposed Kishogue Community College and the proposed Scoil Oscar Community National School (on Council lands at Balgaddy next to Tór an Rí); and further highlighting the options for new pedestrian/cycle routes linking Community College to both Balgaddy Road & Griffeen Avenue?"
REPLY:
The attached map identifies the proposed Kishoge Community College site and the proposed Scoil Oscar Community National School temporary site. The Department of Education and Skills has identified that there is a need to accommodate an additional 45,000 primary school pupils and almost 25,000 post primary school pupils nationally by 2017/2018. The level of demand will require that many of the permanent solutions are in place within three years.
Pre-planning discussions are ongoing in respect of the proposed Kishoge Community College. The Clonburris Local Area Plan, 2008, designates this site for the provision of a ‘Secondary School’ to serve proposed new communities in Clonburris. The site was acquired by the Department of Education and Skills in 2008 and will serve the Lucan area initially. This school is included in the Department of Education and Skills 5 year programme and is due to go to construction this year with an opening date of September 2014. A planning application is expected in March/April 2013.
On June 1st 2012 a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Education and Skills and the County and City Managers’ Association for the Acquisition of Sites for School Planning came into effect. South Dublin County Council has been working closely with the Department of Education and Skills to acquire sites to deliver urgently required primary schools in the county, including at Lucan. SDCC is currently pursuing the acquisition of a site for a permanent primary school in Lucan and negotiations with land owners of the preferred permanent site are ongoing. The permanent school is identified in the Department of Education and Skills 5 Year Programme, launched in March 2012, to be open in 2016. However, the DoES requires that this new primary school be open by September 2013 and therefore, following consultation with the DoES, SDCC identified a site at Tor an Ri to accommodate a school (Scoil Oscar Community National School) at a temporary location in Lucan, until the negotiations to acquire the permanent school site are finalised, thereby ensuring that a school building will be in place by September 2013.
It has been agreed that the Department of Education and Skills will deliver pedestrian crossings and junction works on the Fonthill Link Road, as part of the post primary school development at Kishoge, to facilitate pedestrian and cyclist access to the site, including improving access along the existing road network from Griffeen Avenue. South Dublin County Council is investigating the feasibility of improving linkages and providing direct access routes for pedestrians and cyclists to the Kishoge Community College. The attached map highlights indicative routes to Kishoge Community College from the Griffeen and Balgaddy areas to the north, via SDCC owned lands that could feasibly improve links and direct access to Kishoge Community College for these communities. SDCC will endeavour to find funding sources, possibly through the NTA, and aims to have future links open at the same time as the school. It should also be noted that the Clonburris Local Area Plan also requires a network of pedestrian and cycle links to the school site, to be provided in conjunction with future development.