PLANS for a brand new school for St Patrick’s Primary School have been given the green light by Belfast City Council.
An application was submitted and approved at the Council’s Planning Committee on Tuesday night. Under the proposals, the existing buildings on the junior site at Churchill Street and senior site at Pim Street will be demolished to make way for a new primary school.
The new building comes after Edmund Rice Primary and Star of the Sea Primary amalgamated in 2013 to form the current St Patrick’s Primary School which operates across the two sites.
The new school building will be located on the Pim Street site, consolidating St Patrick’s Primary School on one site as opposed to two. 616 pupils and 84 staff members will be accommodated within the new building.
Meanwhile, the Churchill Street site will be transformed into a multi-use games arena, with car parking and drop-off facility for the pupils. The proposed new main entrance to the school will be off Churchill Street in a similar location to the existing one.
Plans also include an increase in parking provision of 53 spaces with a total of 85 car parking spaces to be provided, with 65 in the main staff and visitor car park and a further 20 spaces provided in a small car-park off Pim Street.
A total of ten objection letters were received, with the main concerns raised included car parking and impact of demolition works. However, it was determined the proposal was approved subject to works being carried out with no undue level of disturbance or disruption to neighbouring properties and that adjacent properties suffer no loss of amenity as a result of the proposed demolition works.
Local Sinn Féin Councillor JJ Magee said the approved plans was fantastic news.
“This is fantastic news for the New Lodge area and for the pupils, staff and parents of St Patrick’s Primary School.
“These plans passed tonight at Belfast City Council will provide a new state-of-the-art school with sports and play facilities, a modern learning environment and an imaginative traffic management system.
“This plan will also enable the school to fully function during the construction phase with minimum disruption to pupils.”