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Manager offers to foot bill for new college

Thursday, 29 May 2008

A special meeting of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council was convened this week to allow councillors to vote on a proposal that would see the local authority fund the redevelopment of a civic building complex in Blackrock at a cost of e15 million.
The county manager is to ask councillors to accept the unorthodox proposal that the local authority fund the project on the condition that the Department of Education repay the council the full amount spent on the project.
The Dún Laoghaire Vocational Education Committee (VEC) obtained planning permission in December 2003 for the refurbishment of, alterations to and the extension of the Blackrock Town Hall complex.
The redeveloped complex is intended for use by the VEC to cater for up to 1,000 students in a modern further education college. In addition, the complex is to house a refurbished and extended public library with modern facilities.
A condition of the permission was that they were to have started on the construction of the site before December of this year.
The project was scheduled to proceed last year but the council was unable to deliver vacant possession of the premises at the time.
While the VEC has indicated that they are now in a position to proceed with the project, the Department of Education and Science has said it cannot meet a previous promise to fund the scheme at this stage.
In his report on the matter, the county manager Owen Keegan said he understood that the planning permission granted for the site would not lapse if the council succeeded in completing some major work on the site before it runs out in December.
He noted that if the planning application did lapse, there could be a “considerable delay” to the scheme which would also mean that the council would have to spend significant amounts on the ongoing cost of securing the building.
In addition, he said that given its poor condition there was a real possibility of further deterioration in the fabric of the structure.
Progressive Democrats activist, Victor Boyhan, who has campaigned for the preservation of the buildings, said many residents he had spoken to could not understand how the proposals have reached this stage without any prior discussion with them and public representatives.
“It is generally felt that a period of public consultation needs to take place before the council makes a final decision about these civic buildings,” he said. “I would request councillors to defer this matter and that a review of the current situation be undertaken in the interest of the wider community.”
Cllr Marie Baker (FG) described Mr Keegan’s proposal to fund the project as a “brave” step.
“If this doesn’t go ahead the building will keep deteriorating and we won’t get a new library,” she said.
“I think it was an incredibly brave thing to suggest that he would actually use council money to fund this. At the end of the day, it has to be a win, win situation for Blackrock. We will end up with a brand new library, we will end up with 1,000 students and the spending power they will have in our town.”
It is understood that the Department of Education has not yet made a decision and is still considering the council’s proposal to fund the project.

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