Relocation of St Brigid’s School Greystones is bad planning says de Burca
Green Party councillor Deirdre de Burca has supported the protests of parents of St Brigid’s School, Greystones following the news that the school is to relocate to Charlesland, by describing the move as “bad planning”.
Parents of children who were informed of the school’s intention to relocate say that they received a letter before Christmas announcing the decision for the first time.
“Parents were informed that the school was overcrowded and that it would be necessary to move to a new site at Charlesland” says de Burca. “This means that children from areas such as Hillside, Heathervue, Bellevue etc will no longer be able to walk to school but will have to be driven 2km approximately across the town to Charlesland. This is not good planning. We should be facilitating children to walk or cycle to their local schools, not obliging parents to drive children to schools that are too far away to walk to”.
De Burca says that the decision to relocate St Brigid’s School to Charlesland was part of a larger rezoning deal agreed by a majority of councillors on Wicklow County Council in December 2006 when the Greystones Local Area Plan was being adopted. “Essentially the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael parties supported zoning land at Charlesland to allow St Brigid’s School to move” she says. “The effect of this decision was to free up the existing school site for developers. None of these councillors seemed to consider that this decision might not be in the best interests of children in the town. Of course Charlesland needs a new school, but it shouldn’t happen at the expense of parents and children from the other side of the town”.
The Green Party councillor says that Wicklow County Councillors must now ensure that an educationally zoned site is provided for the children of St Brigid’s that is much closer to the town centre. “There are a number of sites that could serve this purpose and I believe that the council has an obligation to consider them” she says. “We must plan the provision of schools with the needs of our children, and not of developers, in mind”.
