Eyesore of wrecked school that was driving residents 'bananas' may finally be re-developed
A planning application has gone in for a long-derelict school site in Londonderry – and one local MLA says it will be a relief to residents.
The plan is to turn the former Faughan Valley High School on the south-eastern outskirts of the city into a care home.
There are few details in the application, such as how many beds it will house, but it does say that some of the existing structures at the site, which are listed, will be repaired and retained under the blueprints.
The non-listed bits of the site at 35 Drumahoe Road are to be bulldozed.
DUP MLA for Foyle Julie Middleton is a past pupil of the school, as are her parents.
It had been a controlled school.
Mrs Middleton estimates that it had hosted about 500 pupils.
But the site has been abandoned since 2008 after the school was merged with Clondermott High School to form Lisneal College.
Today it is a partially burnt-out and largely-collapsed ruin.
Mrs Middleton said “the site unfortunately has just lain vacant for a very long time” and had become the target of vandalism and “misbehaviour”.
"There’s been a number incidents on the site: fires, and parts of the building were partly destroyed,” she said.
"It’s actually very unsightly in the area – very unsightly.
"I remember coming up through council [she was a councillor before becoming an MLA] that there needs to be movement on this, because it’s driving the residents bananas essentially.
"The actual school site is right beside a lovely primary school and local play park.
"But if you actually saw the state of the school now, it’s been burnt down, and it’s just awful-looking.”
She said the surrounding community is keen to be part of the consultation into the plans.
“As far as I’ve heard from anybody I’ve been talking to, they’d be happy to see development happening,” she said.
"I very, very much welcome it.”
The application has gone in from Anns Care Homes – a Portadown-based company that works in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.
It will be decided upon by Derry City and Strabane District Council.
Plans had previously been submitted in 2010 to redevelop the site, but nothing ever came of them.
That application, from the Western Education & Library Board, had been for a “mixed-use development to include semi-detached residential units, re-use of the former school building for apartments and community hall,multi-use games area, changing facilities, children's play area, car parking for adjacent primary school and associated landscaping”.
Permission was granted for this, but after five years elapsed with nothing happening, the planning permission for the development lapsed.