A PROMISE to deliver a massive shared education campus means bad news for other schools in need of new buildings.
The assembly education committee heard yesterday that one third of all money available for new builds would be pumped into the Strule Campus in Omagh until it opens.
The £140 million campus will involve six schools and is due to be operational by 2020.
The co-location of schools in the town is intended to increase opportunities for collaboration.
A mix of grammar, non-grammar, Catholic, state and special schools will occupy the site. Each will have their own buildings but will share other facilities.
So far, just one of the six schools has moved onto the campus. Arvalee School and Resource Centre was built at a cost of £8.2m.
Committee chairman Barry McElduff of Sinn Féin asked Department of Education officials yesterday about the impact of Strule on other potential building projects.
Mr McElduff said it was his understanding that a third of all capital money every year would be tied up in Strule, with all other schools competing for limited remaining funds.
Up until now, money for the project has come from the Executive's Together: Building a United Community (T:BUC) strategy. Now, money for Strule must come from the Department of Education.
Department official Philip Irwin told the committee it was not yet possible to say what the impact on other projects would be until the budget situation was clear.
He added, however, that concerns had been raised about a significant impact in both 2018/19 and 2019/20.
The T:BUC funding source, he said, was due to end in March 2017. It was being used to fund Strule and two other integrated projects.
In June 2014 the former education minister John O'Dowd announced a £170m school building programme.
Nearly two and a half years later, just one school is on site, while four have not even made it to the design stage.
