Lisanally Special School in Armagh is to benefit from new facilities as the Education Authority has confirmed pupils are currently using corridors as a dining area.
The Education Authority – which submitted plans seeking ABC Council’s blessing last summer – has pointed out that the need is not as a result of a planned increase in pupil numbers at the Armagh school.
The school has 108 pupils and 57 staff – 37 full-time and 20 part-time.
But there has been an issue with dining accommodation for which the Education Authority had brought forward this application as an acceptable solution.
It is intended to put in place a pre-fabricated classroom unit, at a cost estimated by Construction Information Services to be in the region of £200,000, at the Lisanally Lane school site.
In correspondence sent to planning officials, the EA reveals: “In respect to the proposed school meals accommodation at Lisanally Special School, we wish to confirm that the school pupil enrolment and staffing numbers have not increased.
“The reason for works are to convert an existing classroom into a dining room as the pupils currently use the corridors for dining, with the proposed modular classroom required to replace the existing classroom.
“There will be no increase in traffic and the existing adjacent all-weather pitch can be used for traffic overflow if required.”
The application for the classroom accommodation has now been given the go-ahead by Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council.
At the same time, a separate application for an external storage facility has also been given the thumbs-up by planners.
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