The former Park Road school site could be used as part of a split site school but is not big enough to accommodate an entire school.
Education Minister Daphne Caine was grilled on the site and plans for a new school in Keys this week.
She said that the site, which was the St Ninian’s lower school until it closed and cleared in 2013, “is not sufficient for a two form entry primary school, but it could be part of the solution as a two form entry junior school”.
Mrs Caine said that the DESC is of the opinion that new school is needed in central Douglas to “allow minimal travel and enable children to walk to school”, but that it also wants a site that can be hired out during evenings and weekends.
Timeframe?
Asked by Ann Corlett (Douglas Central) to outline a possible timeframe for the plans, Mrs Caine said there still is not a firm date “because the department’s doing a positioning paper, and any scheme would have to go through relevant capital scheme process”.
She added: “I can confirm, as I said, that the department’s current thinking is this would be the optimal site for a two form entry, split site school between Jubilee and Park Road, which would ultimately free up Murrays Road site school for other use.”
Following a question from her predecessor Julie Edge, Mrs Caine said the DESC is “unable to move any faster because there are other priorities and other building capital schemes.”.
Mrs Caine would not be drawn on Chris Thomas (Douglas Central) that the Westmoreland Village site would be better suited to a new school, saying only that the department had handed over its former Demense Road and Tynwald Street sites and is now prioritising available sites.
Lawrie Hooper (Ramsey) said that the decision should not rest solely with the department but should be a whole government discussion on the best use of land.
You can listen to the full exchange here:
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