CENTRAL PROJECT OUTPACED IN SCHOOLS NEWBUILD RACE
THE Department of Education has offered an explanation as to why Dromore's new primary school isn't sharing in a £13m cash windfall while school projects not yet fully compliant with department policy are getting a kickstart.
It seems long delays in clearing plans for the Mossvale Road site - the project has only now been granted planning permission after six years in the pipeline - have worked against the Dromore newbuild, while other schools are, crucially, further down the road towards a start date. The Leader reported last week that Dromore Central's long awaited replacement was left off a list of school building projects to get started thanks to an Education Department cash boost from the June monitoring round agreed by the Stormont Executive.
Central principal Jim Cochrane said he was confused over the inclusion in the list of seven schools deemed only partially compliant with policy under Education minister Caitriona Ruane's recent schools capital programme review.
It had been widely assumed that when money became available it would be the fully compliant schools, which include Dromore Central, competing for a share.
The Leader put the compliance question to the Department of Education and a spokesperson said, "While Dromore Central was found to be fully compliant with our policy framework following the review of capital projects, it was not included in the list of approved new starts because, having considered all the suitable projects, the schools announced last week are closest to appointing contractors and it is believed are capable of starting this year.
"It is important that the full 13 million capital allocation is spent before 31 March 2011."
The minister's recent capital programme review was aimed, the department spokesperson said, at ensuring school projects, long since approved, remained compliant with the current policy framework, education policies having shifted and changed in the years since approval was first granted.
As a result, some long approved projects found themselves no longer fully compliant with policy, but in the meantime they had nevertheless reached a comparatively advanced stage of planning and preparation, making them best placed to get underway. quickly .
That being so, the spokesperson said, the department had been working closely with the schools and managing authorities to resolve outstanding issues of compliance; those issues, he said, were minor, some having already been resolved, with all to be resolved before work begins.
"Nothing will go on site which is not fully compliant," he said.
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Weather for Dromore
Wednesday 08 February 2012
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