Access crux may put two new schools in jeopardy

Date Published: {J}

BY FRANK FARRAGHER

A MULTI-MILLION euro primary and second level educational complex at Doughiska could now be in jeopardy over a dispute between local residents and the City Council over an access road to the new school. The Galway City Tribune has learned that residents from the Túr Uisce estate have appealed to An Bord Pleanála, a decision of the City Council to grant permission for the new schools.

Local residents have expressed serious concerns that a proposal to access the school complex, through the Túr Uisce estate, could result in traffic chaos for them in the mornings and afternoons during the school week.

There was a large turnout at a meeting of local residents last week in the Clayton Hotel and attended by representatives of the City Council – the residents want a new short access road provided to the Doughiska Road, but this has been strongly opposed by Council officials. The reason for the City Council opposition to the residents’ proposal is that this new access road, would be on land that has been earmarked as part of a major bus corridor for the eastern side of the city over the coming years.

A decision on the residents’ objection to planning for the school complex is not now expected from the Planning Appeals Board until May but there are real fears that the project, could in the meantime, slip down the pecking order in the Dept of Education’s priority funding list. Dan Hurley, Chairman of the Doughiska-Roscam-Ardaun Development Company (DRA), that represents the people of the area on all matters of public interest, told the Galway City Tribune, that the last thing anyone wanted, was for the school project to be put in any doubt.

“We are talking here about a primary school catering for 480 children and a second level one to accommodate 650 students – this is something that we do not want to see lost for this area.

“There is a very strong feeling among residents that there is a very workable solution to this issue involving the construction of a very short section of roadway, giving a separate access onto the Doughiska Road.

However City Council Director of Services, Ciarán Hayes, told the Galway City Tribune said that plans for the provisions of a bus corridor serving the eastern part of the city were an integral part of public transport planning for this area for many years to come. “I think at this stage that if we started compromising on plans for those bus corridors, we would rightly be accused of engaging in bad planning practices,” he said.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.