St Ciaran's NS submits plans for improved parking facilities

A planning application has been made by St Ciaran's NS, Oldtown, in the parish of Moore, for a number of infrastructural improvements at the school.

The school's board of management is seeking permission to demolish the existing car park area and walls and construct a new staff parking area, consisting of 20 car spaces.

Entrance to the proposed new car park will be off the L2041 public road with new boundary walls and fences included in this construction process.

The application also details proposed plans for a parent set down area, bus set down area, paths, roads, landscaping and all associated site works.

The planning application submitted to Roscommon County Council states that the "proposed new staff car park, parent set down area and bus set down area will have an area of 2,480 square metres".

The proposed parent drop off zone will be "adjacent to the staff car park area, and the parents will use the same entrance as the staff", while the bus drop off area is "to be improved" with "parking for two buses from either direction proposed" according to the planning documents.

Citing the existing car parking conditions at the school, the planning application states that this "is primarily reserved for staff (teachers) and only the occasional unoccupied spaces can be used for parents".

The current parent drop-off areas are described as "haphazard and uncontrolled" and the planning documents say "situations of double parking and parallel parking are not uncommon. The area in front of the staff car park is used by parents as the drop off zone – this situation is very undesirable and needs to be regularised and controlled".

The board of management also note in their application that "children have to leave the bus and walk towards the school gates on the hard shoulder" with "no footpaths or protection railings" for safety.

The planning application was submitted to the local authority on February 3 with a decision expected on March 30.