New High School in Bungendore

My family and I have lived in Bungendore for many years and enjoyed spending time at the park and oval with our young children. We do now support any plan to destroy the park, a valuable public space, with the proposed high school.

I object to this project because:
1. I believe that the location is too small, does not allow room for expansion/growth and is costing the Tax payer much more than other schools that are larger which does not make budgetary sense
2. With the current location, it means the removal of the community pool and community centre, where these community facilities are currently located are in a more central location than where the planning is suggesting they be relocated to
3. I believe that with the High school next to the primary school, traffic and parking will greatly impact our town. The high school should be located in a separate area
4. I object to the part closure of Majara street as this is a through street. If this is closed, the traffic will be moved to a street that currently has private residences on it as opposed to park and council chambers, greatly impacting on the noise of those residences
5. I object to turning Turallo Terrance being turned into a car park.

I suggest that the new high school be located away from the centre of town so that there will be more space for the students to play, be on one campus instead of two and more room for grwoth when the school needs to be enlarged.

Site selection.
While central, the site is cramped. The redesign has encroached further into Bungendore Park and relies almost entirely on access to the oval to provide a wide, open space for the kids to play, relax and study. I do not see how the school could expand from 450 student capacity to 700 plus, as suggested by the Member for Monaro, without expanding the footprint further. Building upwards should be a constraint, because anything more than two levels will not be in keeping with the town aesthetic.

Capacity.
I have doubts that the capacity of 450 will be sufficient to accommodate the complete catchment. Evidence behind the size calculation underpinning the planning is lacking. My concerns about the ability to expand the school are addressed above.

Parking.
Sufficient parking for students and teachers needs to be within school grounds, especially as students on P plates will be travelling from all across the catchment to attend this school (once fully built). Turning Turallo Terrace into double-sided parking lot is an eye sore, has implications for the locals living along that street and does not guarantee parking (since the parking will belong to Council, so can't be guaranteed for school use and could be subject to fees in the future). What will be the impact of the approved Pre-School expansion?

Traffic.
Traffic in Gibralter St, Majara St and Turallo Tce is already an issue during drop off and pick up times for the Pre and Primary Schools. The traffic management planning seems to be woefully immature/incomplete. What will be the impact of the approved Pre-School expansion?

10th October 2022

Director – Social and Infrastructure Assessments
Planning and Assessment
Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Locked Bag 5022
Parramatta NSW 2124

FORMAL OBJECTION to SSDA-14394209
Dear Sir/Madam

NEW HIGH SCHOOL IN BUNGENDORE
APPLICATION NO. SSD-14394209

I refer to the above state-significant development application

I object to the Department of Education commandeering community land for the exclusive use of the department for car spaces. The department should be obligated to provide enough car spaces on site. As a result of the department closing the busy Majara Street and turning Gibraltar Street into a bus zone, many of the current car spaces for the Primary School and Preschool have disappeared. The community and especially the homeowners on Turallo Terrace have not been consulted by either the department or QPRC (council)

I object to the department’s policy of discouraging driving by not providing on-site parking. Bungendore is a rural town with very limited public transport options. Most of the staff for the High School will be travelling from outside the town limits and will rely on their own vehicles. Likewise, many of the older students will live outside the town limits and will drive themselves to school. Nearby Queanbeyan is a city with adequate public transport and students driving to school account for about 50 car spaces. Project managers based in Wollongong are possibly not in an ideal situation to recognise the limitations and travel complexities of rural life without public transport but, the author of ‘The Social Impact Assessment’ had the responsibility to adequately inform on the situation.

I object to the Department of Education compulsorily acquiring the Bungendore Community Centre and initially planning in the SSDA to accommodate, within the high school precinct, the essential services which were provided within this community centre but to renege and inform the community that our council/ratepayers will need to replace these facilities. The department has created this issue by proposing to build on an inappropriate site and then has the expectation that a third party needs to fix the mess.

I object to the department compulsorily acquiring multiple use community assets for the benefit of a single community use and expecting council to pick up the shortfall.

I urge that DPIE reject this application.

I support this proposal. This development would bring employment, investment, a sense of belonging and connection to this community. I hope that the NSW can progress with its intended plan as soon as possible to allow the students of 2023 to enjoy a full highschool experience in a purpose built facility. I have been disappointed that such a small but vocal minority anti high school group has been actively campaigning against a much needed facility. The proposal as presented is suitable and fit for purpose. Well done. Thank you

I am objecting to the proposal to build a high school on Bungendore Park for the following reasons,
1. The theft of Bungendore Park by the Department of Education, this park was dedicated to the whole community, for the use of the whole community in the 1880's. It has been used over the years for many reasons including relaxing, walking the dog, playing with the kids, a rest station for tourists, exercise, picnics and just to sit in the grass under the trees and contemplate life. This will be taken away from our community if the high school is built on this site.The comment put out by the DOE that our community is only losing a small portion of our park and they are not touching the Mick Sherd Oval is blatantly wrong. The DOE is proposing to enter into an arrangement with the Queanbeyan Palerang Coucil to use the oval during school hours. if this proposal goes ahead the community will lose use of our park and oval from 9.00am to when school finishes in the afternoon.In winter when daylight ends around 5.00pm it will be of no use to the general public, not many residents will want to come out in the dark and cold to use the oval. Our park is for the use of everyone, not just school aged children. Also with the removal of 75 (revised from 76) trees the park will lose it's aesthetics and visual beauty. The DOE might plan to plant a squillion trees but they will not reach maturity for tens of years. This will ruin our park and it's visual beauty for many years to come.
2. Loss of community assets, the revised plan has stripped away many essential community assets including our community centre, swimming pool , council chambers and library. For the DOE to expect our council to compensate the community for the loss of our pool by building one in the sports hub is wishful thinking to say the least. If the council manage to construct a pool it will be located in the vicinity of the town's sewerage works. Location location. We have a pool next to our park, locating it's replacement near a sewerage works does not make the grade. The council currently has no plans to replace our community center, a replacement council chambers is a pipe dream and god only knows where our community library will end up. To lose all of these asserts for the sake of a high school is totally disgraceful. To say in the revised plans that there will be no adverse outcomes for the Bungendore community if this plan goes ahead is extremely short sited and plainly ridiculous. The Bungendore community will wear this decision if it goes ahead for many years and it will be to the detriment of our community.
3. The proposed site, it is beyond anyone's imagination that a community is expected to lose many assets to gain a high school that, by the plans provided will not keep up with the growth of the community. Bungendore is surrounded by green field sites. The continual mantra that over 1000 acres were looked into but nothing was found suitable is ridiculous. The park site was originally found to be unsuitable, size being one factor. The Department of Planning had found a suitable site and were negotiating with the land owners when all of a sudden the leader of the National Party (now departed) announced, with the DOE and encouragement of our previous council that the high school would be built on the park site. This sudden announcement smacks of political expediency and absolutly no thought to the consiquenses for the Bungendore community. The DOE need to go back to the drawing board and with open eyes, re look at the many locations around Bungendore that the high school could be built on. The vast majority of our community do not want a high school built on our park, the Department of Planning and DE need to do their jobs properly and find a suitable site for this high school that the whole community can support.
Please leave our park alone and return it to the Bungendore community.

Please see attached submission

I support the project. I believe that traffic and parking issues will be eased by the Council, pool and community center being relocated to Gibraltar Street. This will have a welcome social impact also, with location close to other shops and making a connection between existing facilities such as the post office and shops along Ellendon and Malbon Streets. I welcome the bringing forward of construction of a new pool in place of an aging facility that was not fit for purpose, not heated and leaked chlorinated water into the environment. I welcome the relocation of the community centre which is also an aging and ugly building which would need some upgrading if it was to continue. I welcome the useful and sensible repurposing of the Council chambers which would otherwise be underutilised. Most of all I look forward to the building of this much needed school in a central and safe location. I have heard all the arguments against the location of the school and I cannot support these allegations. The park facilities will still be there, the cenotaph untouched, the oval still available for its main daily uses (by children). Are they really trying to save the park from use by children? The alternatives offered are green fields developments - with all the extra time delays and costs of bringing infrastructure there and the potential safety issues of being in areas where there are no other houses or businesses - development of these sites will be some years away it seems, with adequate potable water not being available. I really hope that the Government authorities will listen to reason and proceed with this project as soon as possible, so the high school students can get into their permanent facilities and the primary school students can reclaim their playground, on which the temporary high school is being located.

I object to the location, please see attached.

I object to the Bungendore High School being built on the proposed site and believe there are much better alternative sites around Bungendore.
I previously objected to this bad planning and find that the current amendment is so similar that my previous objection will still apply.
I am also disturbed that in this current plan the community facilities will be removed, with no clarity around their replacement, that Turallo Terrace (with failure to consult residents of that street), will become a massive carpark, and by shifting construction westwards there will be further encroachment onto our Park.
It is also appalling that, with the overwhelming number of objections from residents of Bungendore, this plan is still being put forward even with our new Council, one that is committed to opposing the plan.

I am pleased to make this submission in support of the Department of Educations’ (DoE) evolving plan for Bungendore High School.

DoE’s public consultation program exceeded my expectations. DoE is to be congratulated.

It is evident that DoE has gone to considerable effort to engage with the community in making changes to the original proposal. I did not make a submission requesting a change. The fact that community members sought changes, which have now been incorporated, speaks to the inclusive and professional way the planning has been conducted.

It would be appreciated if DoE would elaborate on how traffic and parking management issues have been addressed to provide a safe road environment.

There is a serious issue with congestion of traffic that will occur with the new high school and what is proposed for new car parking in already busy streets.
We hope you reconsider the location of the high school - we need one rightly so, however this proposed location is not the right place.

I object to the Amended State Significant Development Application for a new high school in Bungendore.
I appreciate that significant changes have been made in response to submissions, but they are superficial and do not address the basic and insurmountable problem that the high school site is unsuitable and should be changed.
As a parent of a future student at Bungendore Public School I am most concerned at the traffic and parking chaos which is inevitable if a high school is built on the proposed site.

Amendments such as the provision of additional parking and paved footpaths along Turallo Terrace will exacerbate the “heat island” effect in Bungendore by paving over wide green nature strips with concrete.

The saving of one tree out of 76 slated for removal hardly seems worth mentioning. Loss of all those trees will also exacerbate the “heat island” effect, as replacements will not provide vital ecosystem services for a decade or longer.

The removal of community facilities alone should be enough to make the project site untenable, and when combined with the inevitable traffic problems and destruction of trees and green space it is clear that only a planning process that is not fit for purpose could approve such a site. Bungendore is surrounded by green space which would provide much better places to build a high school, but has precious little green space within the centre of town, and filling that green space with a high school would be a disaster for the community in general and children especially.

Thankyou for the opportunity to make an objection.

As a previous Palerang councillor (2004-2012) I am not only deeply concerned but also disgusted that the Department of Education has disregarded a number of key factors in its haste to follow through with the ill-conceived proposal by previous member for Monaro John Barilaro for the siting of a high school in Bungendore. Investigation is needed to uncover how this was ever allowed to proceed as far as it has, given the obvious unsuitability of the site for a high school.

Thanks to Alison Ziller PhD, Lecturer in Social Impact Assessment, Macquarie University, those of us in the community who wish to object have a solid basis on which to do so, following her commissioning by Save Bungendore Park to prepare a Social Impact Review. I reiterate and wholly support her executive summary, as follows:

There is general community support for the provision of a new high school at
Bungendore. However, the claim that Bungendore Park is the most suitable of
available sites for the new school is unsubstantiated. The claimed lack of
alternatives should be substantiated in the interests of transparency and
reduction of community tensions, and assessed against the likely risk of major
adverse social consequences.

The proposal would result in public land being enclosed, effectively and visibly
restricting public access to areas previously accessible to all residents.

The proposal represents loss of the town’s civic precinct. There is no proposal
to replace, relocate or recreate this precinct.

The construction of the high school at this site will mean loss of several
community facilities with no credible evidence of their timely or even eventual
replacement. This would be a major and highly negative consequence.

Shared use of Mick Sherd Oval is likely to impact the quality of the playing field
adversely, create risks for players and result in increased costs for Queanbeyan-
Palerang Regional Council.

The enclosed site will lead to a loss of recreational open space which cannot be
replaced by use of a nearby flood detention basin (at Warren Little Park and
Oval). This loss would also forfeit the social and cultural history of Bungendore
Park.

There is an attendant risk that the school will be under pressure to take more
students than anticipated resulting, at some stage, in denser built use of the site.

The provision of quality public education needs to be a key responsibility of any government, but not at any cost. A suitable site needs to be found. The current one is not such a site.

Thankyou again for the opportunity to lodge an objection.

Catherine Moore
October 10, 2022

Thankyou for the opportunity to make a submission. This is the second objection we have lodged, and we stand by the contents of our previous one.

The Braidwood Greens local group has been active in the community since its formation in 1993. During that time we variously have been represented on local council by three of our members who worked closely with the communities that our group covers to ensure that the views of those communities were represented in any decision-making that affects them. This has included conducting visioning workshops during the first decade of this century in the villages around the then Palerang Council Local Government Area, as well as the implementation of a number of other consultation-related initiatives.

The Greens continue to be represented on the amalgamated QPRC.

We are deeply concerned that the Department of Education has disregarded a number of key factors in its haste to follow through with the ill-conceived proposal by previous member for Monaro John Barilaro for the siting of the school.

We are grateful to Alison Ziller PhD, Lecturer in Social Impact Assessment, Macquarie University who was commissioned by Save Bungendore Park to prepare a Social Impact Review. Our submission largely comprises her executive summary, indented below.

There is general community support for the provision of a new high school at
Bungendore. However, the claim that Bungendore Park is the most suitable of
available sites for the new school is unsubstantiated. The claimed lack of
alternatives should be substantiated in the interests of transparency and
reduction of community tensions, and assessed against the likely risk of major
adverse social consequences.

The proposal would result in public land being enclosed, effectively and visibly
restricting public access to areas previously accessible to all residents.

The proposal represents loss of the town’s civic precinct. There is no proposal
to replace, relocate or recreate this precinct.

The construction of the high school at this site will mean loss of several
community facilities with no credible evidence of their timely or even eventual
replacement. This would be a major and highly negative consequence.

Shared use of Mick Sherd Oval is likely to impact the quality of the playing field
adversely, create risks for players and result in increased costs for Queanbeyan-
Palerang Regional Council.

The enclosed site will lead to a loss of recreational open space which cannot be
replaced by use of a nearby flood detention basin (at Warren Little Park and
Oval). This loss would also forfeit the social and cultural history of Bungendore
Park.

There is an attendant risk that the school will be under pressure to take more
students than anticipated resulting, at some stage, in denser built use of the site.

The members of Braidwood Greens are at a loss to understand how the current site ever progressed beyond an initial (bad) idea, and believe that an investigation is overdue in order to determine why this was allowed to happen, given the site’s obvious unsuitability.

Like many others in the community we support the provision of a high school in Bungendore and request that the current proposal be immediately rejected until a more suitable site is chosen.

Thankyou again for the opportunity to lodge our objection.

Catherine Moore
convenor/secretary, Braidwood Greens
October 10, 2022

Dear Sir or Madam

NEW HIGH SCHOOL IN BUNGENDORE

I object to this proposal based on the finite nature of the proposed site to accommodate the needs of a growing population. The population of Bungendore has been growing rapidly in recent years – up by 13.6 per cent between 2016 and 2021 (as per the latest census data). And with growth particularly high in the 0-4 year and 5-9 year age group.

This growth is set to continue with the latest South East and Tableland regional plan forecasting a 29 per cent population growth rate for the region out to 2033 (well above the 17.6 per cent forecast in the EIS). But yet the proposed site fails to take this into account by building a high school that will accommodate less students (at 450) than are currently enrolled at the primary school (500) – but from a wider student catchment.

These growth prospects coupled with the limited space available for expansion – with the current high school map denoting a small area (K) for future expansion needs – will see any future growth encroaching further on the town’s green space.

I am all for a new high school in Bungendore but cannot support an application for a high school that won’t meet the growing population needs of Bungendore.

Yours faithfully,

Skye Ward

I object to the new high school being built on the proposed site for the following reasons:
- limited parking and increased traffic will be dangerous for teachers, parents and students of the primary school, high school and preschool;
- the loss of community facilities that may never be replaced and the consequential limited access to Mick Sherd oval will have a detrimental community social impact; and
- there is inadequate space for future expansion.
This proposal is simply bad planning. It is short sighted and fundamentally the wrong site. The town is surrounded by alternatives sites which would be far more suitable.

See attachment

Gavin Whiteley
20 Elmslea Drive
BUNGENDORE NSW 2621
Monday 10 October 2022

The Director - Social and Infrastructure Assessments
Planning and Assessment
Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Locked Bag 5022
Parramatta NSW 2124

Dear Sir or Madam
Re: NEW HIGH SCHOOL IN BUNGENDORE (APPLICATION NO. SSD-14394209)

I refer to the above state-significant development application.

I continue to object to the proposal, for the following reason(s):

• The loss of the Bungendore Community Centre which is due to be demolished for the construction of the new school.
• The loss of the proposed site for the Abbeyfield Senior Citizens’ housing development.
• The loss of portion of Bungendore’s historic town oval and its availability for 24-hour public use – the only public green space within the Bungendore town centre.
• The loss of portion of Majara Street due to be closed due to the construction of the school and its associated detrimental traffic flow impacts on the Bungendore town centre.
• The loss of the Bungendore community swimming pool – constructed with funds raised by the local community.
• The potential loss, damage and destruction of Indigenous cultural sites located within the proposed High School precinct, including known gravesites.
• The potential loss, damage and destruction of heritage sites located within the proposed High School precinct, including the War Memorial site.
• The loss of portion of the Bungendore Common lands to this project – these lands should be “Common” to the people of the Bungendore community – not the Department of Education or the NSW Government.
I have not, and no associate of mine, has made any political donation to any person in the two years preceding this submission.

Yours faithfully

Gavin Whiteley