Gurteen College has been granted planning permission to build a brand new standalone teaching block. Planning was eventually granted, I’m told, following a number of cracks at the whip.

A two-storey building with six new classrooms all in one area is what the Tipperary agricultural college has planned.

The current classrooms, which have been there for yonks, are very dated and are dotted all around the campus, so some development was overdue.

Anyone familiar with the college, who may have got to experience a dip in the on-campus swimming pool, will be glad to know that planned development will not be at the expense of this Gurteen treasure.