Judge rules consultation on closing school’s Lurgan campus ‘not unlawful’

CONSULTATION on the potential closure of a school campus in Co Armagh was not unlawful, a High Court judge has ruled.

Mr Justice Huddleston rejected a challenge to a process carried out by the Education Authority (EA) into the future of Craigavon Senior High School.

The school operates across two sites in Lurgan and Portadown as part of the Dickson Plan in the area, which involves deferring academic selection to the age of 14.

Last year the EA launched a pre-publication consultation on a development proposal to close the Lurgan campus and accommodate all 620 pupils on the Portadown site.

Proceedings were launched by the mother of a teenager with health and learning difficulties who expected to go on to attend the Lurgan campus.

The court heard 1,154 respondents to the pre-publication consultation disagreed with the development proposal, while 177 backed the plans.

Due to the legal challenge the EA withdrew the development proposal and suspended the public objection period to await judicial determination.

Lawyers for the mother who took the case argued that the process was unlawful on a number of grounds, including procedural unfairness and issues around the Dickson Plan.

Ruling on the case, Mr Justice Huddleston concluded: “I do not consider that the consultation process, on the facts of this case, was unlawful and/or to have been vitiated by what has occurred.”

He also raised the possibility of the process recommencing.