Strule shared campus will go over budget by £60m

THE proposed Strule shared education campus in Omagh is currently on target to cost more than £60m above its initial budget.

The project, which began in 2013, has seen its costs rise from an initial budget of £168.9m to £228m. Only one of its proposed six schools have been built on the site so far.

The original end date for the project was meant to be 2020.

Only Arvalee Special School has been completed. The five other schools that are meant to go on the site are Loreto Grammar School, Omagh High School, Sacred Heart College, Omagh Academy and Christian Brothers Grammar School.

Speaking in Stormont on Monday, Education Mininster, Michelle McIlveen, said that she “would still hope that the construction can complete in 2025”.

“While it is overdue I’m confident that we’re moving in the right direction.”

West Tyrone MLA, Daniel McCrossan, said it’s hugely disappointing that delays and costs have skyrocketed in the last year.

The SDLP education spokesperson said, “During question time, the Minister confirmed that work is underway to deliver the campus by 2025 and that the budget has now risen by an additional £60m.

“When work originally began on the project, people in Omagh were promised that this campus would be opened last year. Instead we’ve had delay after delay and now the Education Minister and Department will now do their best to have the site opened by September 2025.

“The Minister has also confirmed that the project is now £59m over budget, rising from £169m in 2016 to £228m in 2021. This is a substantial sum of money. This can only be put down to a massive failure in the Department of Education and the three years of Stormont stalemate.

“Young people in Tyrone need these facilities. We’re letting down too many people if we continue to accept excuses for failure on this project. I’ll be making representations to the Minister about these further delays and costs to emphasise how important it is that the Strule campus is delivered.”