Property 'swap' deal will include 'free' college

NAAS, 1 August 2000: by Brian Byrne. A Naas-based developer has offered to build a new Community School ‘at no cost to the Exchequer’ on land his company owns at Oldtown Demesne, in return for being given the 4-acre site currently occupied by St Patrick’s Community School on the Newbridge Road (above).

The offer includes the donation of almost 10 acres at Oldtown for the new school, and is known to be very attractive to the Department of Education, which had previously allocated £3.5 million for the refurbishment of the VEC-operated St Patrick’s. The new school would accommodate up to 500 students.

Negotiations currently under way between the school authorities and the developer are known to be very well advanced, and the deal is likely to be concluded by September of this year. It will then be subject to confirmation by the Department after which material contraventions of the Naas Town Development Plan will be required to change the zoning of both locations.

There is some speculation that the developer proposes to offer Superquinn a site on the St Patrick’s Community School land on Newbridge Road. If true, this would make available a key piece of property right in the centre of Naas for further development, possibly apartments or townhouses, which would also require a material contravention of the Naas Development Plan.

At the last meeting of Naas UDC, Cllr Pat McCarthy said the authority should consider changing its policy of keeping all shopping developments in the centre of town. He was supported by the chairman, Cllr Pat O’Reilly. Superquinn, currently both partly the cause of and suffering from traffic congestion, tried last year to relocate to a site on the Dublin Road. This was disallowed by the town’s planners.

The Oldtown Demesne was acquired some time ago by Lehmex International Ltd, headed by Gerry Conlan. It has been the subject of some controversy over the company’s failure to fulfil a promise to relocate Naas GAA to a site on the property, a promise which helped to swing a rezoning of the demesne during the preparation of the development plan. A group of Naas UDC councillors are currently in negotiation with Lehmex on the GAA’s behalf.