New school plans for Moate put on hold

Plans for a new purpose-built secondary school in Moate are on hold after Westmeath County Council requested further information from the applicant before a final decision can be made.

Moate Community School Board of Management learned on July 24 that the local authority wants more data on aspects of the application to allow a verdict on the project to be announced.

At the end of May, when the details of the project first emerged, principal Tom Lowry said that he hoped that work, pending planning, would begin on a new multi-million euro school for 1,000 students in the town next year.

It would see all premises barring the St Joseph's building, the oldest on-site, and the one facing the road, knocked as part of a phased construction project to provide new state-of-art accommodation spanning 9,600 square metres for students and staff.

The school was first established in 1996 following the amalgamation of the Convent of Mercy Secondary School, the Carmelite College and Moate Vocational School.

A submission listed on the Westmeath County Council website on the project comes from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which called for an archaeological impact assessment to be prepared to assess any impact on archaeological remains with the proposed development site. It also asked that a test excavation be carried out on-site and a written report be submitted.