Planning approval granted after 20-year battle
Priory College plans approved
By Iain Gray
PRIORY Integrated College has won a vital step in its years-long quest for a new school.
Its long-awaited new build on the former site of Holywood’s Redburn Primary School won planning permission this week, clearing the way for the popular college to start construction after a two-decade battle.
But there’s yet another hurdle for Priory to clear before building work can begin – finding the money to pay for it, as earlier this year it was one of several integrated schools to have supposedly ring-fenced funding pulled and reassigned to Northern Ireland’s general budget.
And the project didn’t get universal backing at Ards and North Down Council’s Planning Committee on Tuesday night, with the Green Party in particular raising fears about road safety in the already congested Redburn area.
Winning planning permission still kicks off the college’s summer holidays with a bang, however, as it means things are looking up in Priory’s long quest for new premises.
Its current home is far too small for the frequently oversubscribed school, and is also showing its age.
The new build will have space for 600 pupils, as well as special educational needs accommodation, sports pitches, playgrounds and both car and cycle parking.
The design of the new school building sees a central ‘spine’ running across the site, with three specialist blocks running off it featuring sports, performing arts and technology education, plus a dedicated entrance block.
The site lies between a housing estate, Redburn Country Park and Holywood Golf Club, and will see Priory shift from its current home on My Lady’s Mile to Old Holywood Road.
During Tuesday night’s Planning Committee meeting, several politicians raised issues with the plans, most notably Green councillor Lauren Kendall.
Worried about the impact adding large numbers of cars into the area would have on traffic safety, she stated the Department for Infrastructure’s Roads division ‘must have reviewed that site with their eyes closed, in the dark of night’.
“Already traffic is backed up along Old Holywood Road – in winter, well back beyond Palace Barracks,” she said.
“I think it will cause significant safety issues; there are blind turns there, people pulling out of them can’t see as it is, and we’re going to increase traffic on that road without a significant way to sort it out.”
She also raised concerns about plans to install floodlights along the school’s border with Redburn Country Park and the inclusion of a 3G pitch, as an EU restriction on 3G pitch construction materials is due to come into force in 2031.
Although planners told her that both the floodlights and 3G pitch would have mitigations imposed to lessen their impact, Ms Kendall said: “Although I really, really want Priory to have a new school and I don’t necessarily disagree with it being at that site, I think it needs further work. At this time, I can’t support it.”
Alliance councillor Patricia Morgan said she was disappointed to see that while the new Priory site will have internal provision for cyclists, the roads around it won’t have cycle lanes.
“I just think that’s really sad,” she said. “I’m delighted that pedestrians and cyclists are encouraged on the actual site, but it’s not much good if they can’t get there; I think that’s hopeless, actually.”
Planning consultant Mark Hanvey, representing Priory, stated that changes to nearby public roads are the responsibility of the Department for Infrastructure; the school’s building project can’t alter those street layouts, he stated, and the department would have to be lobbied instead.
In addition, 11 local residents filed objections citing concerns over road safety, their privacy, and the level of noise and nuisance in the area, but their complaints were dismissed by planners.
Overall, councillors welcomed the new build, with DUP councillor Peter Martin saying: “I think it’s a really exciting design, and really clever in terms of some of the things we’ve looked at with traffic and parking flow; it’s marvellous.
“I do recognise some of the concerns people have, and the residents in terms of a new, fairly chunky, school right beside them.
“But this school will be of substantial community benefit, and Priory have done outstanding work in this field in not fit for purpose conditions, in a really cramped site, for way too long.”
All councillors voted to approve the new school with the exception of Ms Kendall, who abstained.
