COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF DEVELOPMENT PLAN MEETING

Tuesday, March 01, 2022

MOTION NO.74

MOTION: Councillor F. Timmons

Chapter 8 page 797 SD-C195-256 

 That this Council set an objective  to provide a Post Primary School for Newcastle 

REPORT:

The contents of this Motion are noted and acknowledged. The motion refers to provide a Post Primary School for Newcastle. 

The Planning Department liaised with the Department of (DoE) in relation to the provision of primary and post-primary school places throughout the County during the Development Plan period. The DoE carry out their assessment of need based on the potential growth set out under the Core Strategy for each School Planning Area (SPA) and reviewed this against the Neighbourhood Areas set out in the Draft Plan.  

In terms of a provision for Newcastle and the wider School Planning Area, the Draft Plan includes COS 8 SLO 1 under Policy 8 which states: 

COS8 SLO 1: 

“To identify a site for the appropriate location of a new post primary school within the Neighbourhood Area of Citywest/Saggart/Rathcoole/Newcastle to provide for the needs identified for the catchment area by the Department of Education and Skills”. 

The Council is committed under Policy COS8(a) to work in conjunction with the Department of Education to promote and support the provision of primary and post-primary schools in the County to reflect the diverse educational needs of communities, and; under Policy COS8(b) to engaging with the Department of Education and supporting the Department’s School Building Programme by actively identifying sites for primary and post primary schools at suitable locations, based on forecast need. It is considered, therefore, that the provisions of the Draft Plan, including COS8 SLO 1 and Policies COS8(a) and COS8 satisfactorily address the issues raised by the DOE in respect of post-primary requirements for the Citywest/Saggart/Newcastle/Rathcoole area to meet the projected future need. 

It should be noted that a previous motion was put forward to amend the Draft County Development for a SLO that a second primary school and a post-primary school is included in the plan for Newcastle at the South Dublin County Council Development Plan Meeting which was held on Thursday 17th June 2021 under Item ID: 70588. It was unanimously agreed to accept the Chief Executive’s Recommendation that this motion is adopted with amendment that the intent of the motion was reflected in the CE Draft Plan under: 

1. COS8 SLO 1 under Policy 8 which states: ‘To identify a site for the appropriate location of a new post primary school within the Neighbourhood Area of Citywest/Saggart/Rathcoole/Newcastle to provide for the needs identified for the catchment area by the Department of Education and Skills.’ 

 

The Department of Education have indicated in their submission analysis regarding Citywest/Saggart/Rathcoole/Newcastle the following: 

 

Post-primary requirements for the Citywest/Saggart/Newcastle/Rathcoole  

“At post-primary level, the Department considers the needs of the neighbourhood as a whole. Up until recently, there was one post-primary school for the neighbourhood, located in Rathcoole. The growing requirement for post-primary school places arising from the population increase in the entire neighbourhood (Citywest, Saggart, Newcastle and Rathcoole) prompted the establishment of a new post-primary school to meet the growing need in the neighbourhood. This school, Coláiste Pobail Fóla, opened in September 2020. The Department notes and welcomes Specific Local Objective 1 in regard to primary and post-primary schools (COS8 SLO1) to “identify a site for the appropriate location of a new post-primary school within the Neighbourhood Area of Citywest/Saggart/Rathcoole/Newcastle to provide for the needs identified for the catchment area by the Department of Education (and Skills) “. The Department considers that a highly suitable well-located site is already identified, namely the State-owned (ETB) site on Fortunestown Lane and planning permission has already been obtained to construct a permanent building for the new post-primary school on this site (as well as a primary school). There is an established educational use at this site for the past ten years. The new post-primary school will meet needs in the short-term but based on the projected growth of the entire neighbourhood, there is a projected further need for a significant increase in post-primary provision to cater for the needs of the neighbourhood”. 

In line with the Department’s submission, it is considered that the issue of provision of a post primary school to address the needs of Newcastle and the wider school catchment area in the medium term is already addressed within COS8 SLO 1. 

CE Recommendation: It is recommended that this motion is adopted with amendment to reflect that COS8 SLO 1 under Policy 8 which states: ‘To identify a site for the appropriate location of a new post primary school within the Neighbourhood Area of Citywest/Saggart/Rathcoole/Newcastle to provide for the needs identified for the catchment area by the Department of Education and Skills.’ sufficiently covers the intent of the motion.