Shared campus project delayed until at least 2025
A shared education campus in Co Tyrone will not open for at least another five years.
Work on the project, on a former Army base in Omagh, started in 2013. It was due to be completed this year.
Six schools, catering for 3,700 pupils, will eventually be built and based on the site. However, only Arvalee Special School has been completed to date.
The finish date for the campus was pushed back several times — to 2021, then 2022 and then, earlier this year, to 2024.
Now Education Minister Peter Weir has said it will be September 2025 “at the earliest” before it opens.
His update came in response to an Assembly question from SDLP MLA Daniel Mccrossan.
Mr Weir said: “I remain fully committed to delivering this educationally and strategically significant programme.
“My officials and I have been working diligently to progress the Strule Shared Education Campus to the next stage in the procurement process. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has touched all aspects of business resulting in the projected go live date being revised.
“Provisional opening of the Campus is now planned for September 2025 at the earliest.
“Treasury officials have confirmed access to Fresh Start Agreement funding for the Programme through to completion. This will be formally notified in the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) outcome in the autumn.”
Mr Mccrossan, a local MLA, said he was “extremely disappointed” at the fresh delay.
He said the project must be a priority.
“When work began on the project, people in Omagh were promised that this campus would be opened this year. Instead we’ve had delay after delay and now the Education Minister has confirmed that the earliest opening date is now September 2025,” he added.
“At this rate we’ll be lucky if children born the year the project started will be able to set foot in the campus.
“It’s really hard to argue that this is a priority for the Education Minister when there has been so much delay.”
Loreto Grammar School, Omagh High School, Sacred Heart College, Omagh Academy and Christian Brothers Grammar School are set to move to the shared site.
The scheme’s final cost is estimated at £213.7m — well above the original £168.9m estimate.