Department sent back to drawing board over school plan blunders

The Department of Education has been sent back to the drawing board with its plans for an extension to the Educate Together primary school in Newcastle – after a series of embarrassing blunders were spotted by the City Council.

City planners pointed out there are conflicting drawings for where the carpark is to be located, that the landscaping scheme seems to bear no relation to the actual site and that a pond is a “questionable feature” for a primary school.

The Department has also been asked for evidence that it has legal consents from Croí, the City Council and the Newcastle Combined Community Association (NCCA) to use parts of their land.

Officials in the Department have already been accused of an illegal ‘landgrab’ by Croí, which operates a Heart and Stroke Centre on an adjacent site on the Thomas Hynes Road.

City planners have now told the Department to revise their plans to match the finish and layout of the existing school and to include more cedar cladding instead of render.

They also queried why a junior play area needs galvanised metal panelling, when there is currently no requirement by the existing school.

The planners went on to point out blunders in the drawings submitted with the application.

A separate planning application from the NCCA (for a community hall and meeting rooms) currently before the Council shows a different carparking layout for the site.

“There is obviously a clear conflict with the two carparking layouts submitted as part of the separate applications. Clarify how you would propose to proceed with the development if the carparking layout you propose cannot be built,” planners said.

They ordered an extensive reconfiguration of the parking layout and for a comprehensive Traffic Management Plan to be drawn up for the site.

Planners continued: “With regard to the landscaping plan submitted, the [Council] is seriously concerned that it has no relationship with the site.

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