A new school facility in Galway city has been given the green light after a last-minute appeal by locals was rejected.
St Joseph’s College, better known as The Bish, applied to Galway City Council in June 2023 to build a 11,134 sqm school comprising classrooms, specialist room accommodation, PE Hall/ Multi-Purpose Hall, a two-classroom Special Needs Unit, ancillary accommodation, and five external Ball Courts.
The plans, approved by Galway City Council in July 2024, also provided for 79 car parking spaces, bicycle storage, hard and soft landscaping, water attenuation system, as well as all necessary pathways.
The main school building is mostly a three-storey build, with four-storey block. Solar photovoltaic panels will be installed on the roof.
Plans also outline that a new signalised junction, access road and dedicated cycle lane will provide entry from the N59 at the junction at Circular Road enclosing the development and terminating on Saint Anne’s Road.
A North-South fire path will enclose the Eastern boundary and a new pedestrian access from the N59 will also be built along with an all-new drainage system to keep the area and its surrounds from floodwaters.
However, shortly after its approval in July 2024, an appeal was made to An Bórd Pleanála over the build.
The appeal insisted that the site was unsuitable to locate a school of this size. They cited the potential for traffic congestion along an already problematic route, and the potential for cars parking, dropping off or picking up in local estates.
The four-acre lands were acquired by St. Joseph’s (The Bish) in a land swap with University of Galway and will house 1,000 once completed, the majority of which will be from The Bish’s current city centre school building. The Bish currently schools 750 pupils.
The size of the site also a subject of the appeal. The Department of Education recommends a site size of around 11.3 acres for a school of 1,000 students, but the new school will only cover four.
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