May 7, 2021, NI Belfast Telegraph: School for disabled pupils in North West gets green light https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/school-for-disabled-pupils-in-north-west-gets-green-light-40396393.html
A new school for disabled children in the North West has been given planning permission .
The development of the new Ardnashee School and College in Co Londonderry will include playgrounds, ball courts, car parking and landscaping.
The school will provide facilities to meet the curricular needs of 340 pupils with profound, moderate and severe learning difficulties aged 3-19 living in the area currently served by Ardnashee School and College….
However, its current facilities are not adequate for its needs and there have been plans in place for a number of years for a move to a new purpose-built school at Northland Road on a large plot of land which became vacant when Foyle College moved to the Waterside in 2018.
Now Derry City and Strabane Council has given the plans the green light.
Sinn Fein councillor Aileen Mellon said: “It’s been a long time coming. The staff at Ardnashee and the pupils have been waiting a long time….
SDLP councillor John Boyle described it as “a day for celebration”.
The decision to grant planning permission was unanimous. Work on the £33.9m [$48M US] new school is expected to start in late autumn this year and will take around two years to complete.
