School showdown

Council to vote again on future of Pottsville site

TWEED councillors could end a long stalemate over a school between Pottsville residents, a developer and the NSW Department of Education.

The community has been crying out for a high school for more than five years while Newlands Developers has held a parcel of land at its Seabreeze Estate for that purpose.

But 18 years after the land was earmarked for a school, the NSW Department of Education still has no interest in building one there.

The department says the estimated 300 secondary students at Pottsville fall within the Kingscliff State High School catchment and there is still enough capacity at that school and nearby Banora Point and Murwillumbah schools.

Councillors will meet tonight once again to decide if Newlands can turn the land the Education Department doesn’t want into 69 residential lots.

The land is owned by Altitude Living and is being developed by Newlands, both subsidiaries of Metricon.

This is the third time in five years they have sought council approval to redevelop the vacant school land for housing.

In 2013, councillors voted to retain the land for a high school. Two years later Newlands tried again, only for the council to refuse. The Land and Environment Court dismissed an appeal against that decision in January this year.

Within a month, Newlands submitted another application to the council to subdivide the land for residential lots.

The application attracted 27 submissions, 22 objecting to the proposal and five in support.

The Department of Education said it was reviewing its regional facilities, however based on its work to date it did not want to acquire the land. “Students from Pottsville are zoned to Kingscliff High School which has 17 surplus teaching spaces in 2018,” the Department of Education said.

Pottsville Beach Public School P&C president Helen Davids said there was a need for a high school in the area.

“We have close to 700 students in our school and it is always growing,” she said.

“I don’t know if they should build it at Seabreeze but there is a need (for a new school).”

Pottsville Community Association president Penny Hockings said the high school should be built at Seabreeze.

“Back when they built the estate the land was sold to families with the understanding a high school would be built there,” she said.

Council officers have again recommended councillors refuse the Newlands application. Newlands Developers did not respond to Bulletin questions. SCHOOLS must lead their own fight for pedestrian crossings and signs to ensure the safety of students, according to the State Government.

After calls from at least three Coast schools for the installation of crossings, the State Government confirmed it was up to schools to force them to act. These schools included Pimpama Primary College, which only succeeded in getting a crossing installed following a Bulletin campaign after a 12-year-old student was hit by a car in June.

In a statement received yesterday, the Department of Transport and Main Roads confirmed the bureaucratic hurdles schools have to jump.

“It is the school’s responsibility to advocate these standards through their Safe School Travel (SafeST) Committee,” a TMR spokesman said.

“Establishing a SafeST Committee is the first step a school can take in identifying and addressing safety concerns.”

An application can then be made to TMR for funding. If applications are successful, schools are placed on a statewide priority list, where many such as Numinbah Valley State School and Highland Reserve State School have waited for years.

TMR did not outline any ongoing assessments in place to ensure student safety on the roads, outside of the schooldriven SafeST committees.

“Our road safety officers work with schools to establish and support safe road practices for students and the community,” the spokesman said.

Numinbah State School P&C secretary Jess Slingsby, who led the fight for road markings, flashing lights and warning signs outside the Numinbah Valley School, said the process was “maddening”.

Numinbah, which after a 10-year battle saw two signs erected, is still waiting for paintwork on the road and flashing lights to be installed.

“I’ve been surprised it isn’t just something that is put in place at all of the schools without anyone having to step in,” she said. “This school had to fight for almost 10 years, instead the onus is on us.

“The bureaucracy is maddening, we were told we couldn’t have the paint on the road without the lights as they come as a package.

“Then we watch how fast they work at Pimpama after a boy gets hit, so the political nature of it all is so surprising.”

The Member for Theodore Mark Boothman said a school in his electorate, Highland Reserve State School, had been told there would likely be no additional crossing installed across a major new road.