Compulsory purchase of Wexford campus site approved by An Bord Pleanála – ‘Now the ball is in SETU’s court
While it seems there’s been a lot of momentous steps in moving towards the provision of a new state of the art university campus for Wexford, coupled with quite a few false dawns, it seems that the project has taken a significant step towards fruition with An Bord Pleanála approving the compulsory purchase of a site stretching from Whiterock across to Killeens.
Having only signed the documents to progress with the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) back in January, Cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council George Lawlor was surprised by how quickly it had been approved and confirmed.
“This is a very significant milestone,” he said. “I had expected it to be a longer process, but having received no submissions and no objections, there was no need for An Bord Pleanála to go to an oral hearing.”
Cllr Lawlor says that the next step will involve the finalisation of the purchase from principal landowner Mr Scott Mernagh, as well as Ms Pamela Mulcair, and the settling of a price, which will “more than likely be done by arbitration.”
Wexford County Council used its statutory powers to CPO the land in a bid to progress the delivery of a long-awaited university campus, however, how quickly things progress from this point will be dependent on the South East Technological University (SETU).