GEORGE NEWS - The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has confirmed that building plans for a new high school on Erf 6979 in Stander Street (opposite Genevafontein Retirement Village) have been submitted to the George Municipality.

Departmental spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the land, an open park, is a provincially owned site that is already zoned for education. 

"The WCED has initiated a planning process to design a new high school facility on this site as part of its rapid school build programme. 

"The planning process has progressed well and the building plans were submitted to Council, which is busy scrutinising them for approval. For now, the project remains in a planning phase and no dates have yet been confirmed for the appointment of a contractor and the start of construction."

More detail about the size of the school and other additional facilities will only be made available once the plans are approved, she said.

According to two concerned residents of the George East neighbourhood, some information they obtained from the Planning Department indicates that the school will already open in 2027.  

Pauline Lourens said she's not negative about the building of a school, however, a traffic impact study should include the possibility of creating pedestrian and cycling paths. "This should be implemented at all our schools in order to alleviate the traffic congestion experienced in the CBD and in the suburbs.

"The Meyer Street bridge is currently narrowly coping with school-out peak times. City planners should, therefore, apply their minds to alleviating a major traffic crisis by doing more long-term planning. This is on everyone's mind when caught up in a stand-still peak hour traffic."

‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’