Clare county manager Alec Fleming has recommended that councillors rezone 85 acres owned by the diocese of Killaloe for school and housing development on the outskirts of Ennis.
The rezoning at Ashline would allow for the relocation of Ennis national school from its town centre site and for the construction of 590 homes in a new suburb.
Last May members of Clare County Council and Ennis Town Council proposed the draft rezoning.
However concerns have been expressed by the Holy Family School in Ennis and the Convent of Mercy.
Sr Philomena Vaughan, on behalf of the trustees of the Convent of Mercy, said relocating a town school to an outlying area of low and medium density would have undesired sociological implications.
The Holy Family senior school employed planning consultants to draw up a submission to state that the proposed plan would have considerable demographic, environmental, sociological and infrastructural effects on the plan area and that such effects have not been properly assessed.
The submission says the plan has not been properly processed.
It says due regard has not been given or advice sought from the structures and organisations "which addresses issues of social inclusion".
In response, the planner's report says planning and environmental assessment regulations do not require social effects to be screened in a development plan.
A spokesman for the diocese of Killaloe said last May that it was forced by the council to draw up the plan as part of a proposal to relocate Ennis national school.
The diocese originally lodged a submission with the council to rezone a small parcel of the land for community use to allow the relocation of the school.
The plan is to go before next month's meetings of Clare County Council and Ennis Town Council, where the rezoning is expected to be ratified.
