Plans for €12.5m redevelopment of Christian Brothers College in Cork put on hold
Plans for a €12.5m development of a large new school building by Christian Brothers College in Cork has to be put on hold as two objections to the facility have been lodged with An Bord Pleanála.
A local resident and local landlord have appealed the recent decision of Cork City Council to grant planning permission for a new five-storey building on CBC’s campus at Sidney Hill on the city’s northside.
The development will also provide a new library, a digital suite and a school hall.
CBC principal David Lordan has previously stated that he hoped the new development would be available for use from the start of the 2022 school term but the appeal puts the plans on hold until the summer at the earliest.
Mr Lordan said it is not the college’s intention to increase student numbers from its current level of just over 900 pupils in the secondary school and another 160 in the co-located preparatory school.
One of the appellants, Con Murphy from Macroom, who owns a small residential block of three houses near CBC Cork, said he was very concerned about the impact of the new development on traffic. Mr Murphy stressed he wasn’t seeking to have planning permission refused but to have plans modified by imposing a number of planning conditions.
He claimed the traffic gridlock that takes place near the school entrance every morning and afternoon is a constant nuisance to everyone in the area.
Because CBC is a fee-paying school, it has a large catchment area which meant walking to school was simply not an option for the vast majority of its students, he said.
Mr Murphy said it was “inconceivable” that a “successful school” which was in demand would not use the net addition of eight new classrooms for a significant expansion of its numbers and has asked An Bord Pleanála to impose a condition limiting student numbers to the current total of 1,072.
Local resident, Tony McGrath, has also challenged the council’s decision over its failure to impose a limit on student numbers at CBC and measures to control the number of cars dropping off students at the school.
“The local neighbours will just receive even more black SUVs parking illegally and not obeying “stop” signs,” Mr McGrath said.
A ruling in the case is due to be made by An Bord Pleanála by June 8.
