New primary school mooted amid plan for extra Monksland housing

A new primary school may be needed in the Monksland and Bealnamulla area due to planned extra housing, the Department of Education has said.

In a submission on a proposed variation of the Roscommon County Development Plan 2022-2028 to zone extra land for housing across the county, the department cited the potential need for an additional primary school to meet a proposed housing growth in the Monksland and Bealnamulla areas.

The submission noted that the demand for school places "arising from the resulting population growth" will increase substantially and will "place significant pressure on existing schools to cater for the extra school place requirements".

The variation to the county development plan proposes an additional 940 housing units with a population growth of 2,490 people within the Monksland/Bealnamulla area up to 2031. This is an increase from the 515 housing units planned in that period in the existing development plan.

In general, the Department of Education and Youth said its preference is "always to expand existing facilities (if possible)" should there be a requirement for additional school places resulting from proposed population increases.

However, the Department requested the planning authority to examine the potential of protecting a land buffer around each school to enable them to expand further if required.

In the context of Athlone, the department said it is "mindful of the impact" of potential population growth on both the Roscommon and the Westmeath sides of the town.

The submission noted that any potential residential growth on the Westmeath side of Athlone, in proximity to the Roscommon side of the town, would potentially generate a population of approximately 2,500 and a "school place demand that would require consideration of the need for an additional primary school in the area".

In terms of post-primary schools, it said any extra requirement could be accommodated by the planned expansion of existing facilities.

In response, Roscommon County Council Chief Executive Shane Tiernan said the submission from the Department of Education and Youth was noted and the "opportunity for continued engagement between the Department and Council is welcomed".

He stated that land use zoning provisions around existing school facilities "make adequate accommodation for any expansion that may occur in the short term".

"In the longer term, engagement with the Department of Education and Youth will be an essential body of work in planning for the future development of the county in the new ten-year county development plan," the Chief Executive stated.

The revised county development plan proposed 3,012 additional homes up to 2031, up from the 1,726 in the existing development plan. This involves some 99 hectares of land across the county.

The variation is aimed at meeting increased housing targets set out under the National Planning Framework Implementation: Housing Growth Requirement Guidelines and will provide additional land zoned for new homes.

The county had been projected to 74,000 by 2031, and to 77,000 by 2040. This has been subsequently revised to 80,000 by 2031, with further growth to 85,000 by the year 2040.

As a result, local authorities were instructed to revise their baseline annual housing growth requirements, with permission to apply an ‘additional provision’ for housing growth, of up to 50% on existing annual targets. In Roscommon, the annual target for new housing was 392 units per year up to 2034, and 356 from 2035 – 2040.

At a special meeting to discuss the submissions received on the proposed variation last week, the local authority's Chief Executive, Shane Tiernan, outlined the council’s response to a large number of submissions including from the Office of the Planning Regulator, National Transport Authority, prescribed bodies and landowners.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Laurence Fallon welcomed the substantial rezoning of lands to allow for essential residential development.

Citing this to be a "notable figure", he said that the council can now look to build on the baseline housing growth requirement of 392 residential units per year.