Tertiary plans scaled down for factory site

Plans to develop a tertiary education and accommodation facility at the old Miller’s Thread Factory in Warragul have been significantly scaled down.

A planning permit application submitted to Baw Baw Shire has outlined amended plans for the Sutton St site.

The development will not longer include accommodation on the site and the total number of students on site will be reduced to 195.

The original development plan announced in February was for a facility catering for up to 600 students and onsite accommodation for 424 students.

Beveridge and Williams senior planner Joey Whitehead said community submissions in relation to the original application raised concerns about the impact of the accommodation on the amenity of the surrounding area.

Increased traffic, lack of onsite parking and invasion of privacy were also raised as issues by residents.

Project manager Peter O’Dea said objections of surrounding residents and the uncertain future of international students beyond COVID -19 had contributed to the amended project.

Mr O’Dea confirmed a lease had been signed with a Registered Training Organisation but could not reveal details at this stage.

He said a broad range of courses would be on offer, with a particular focus on catering for VCAL students.

He said he expected there also would be online learning for international students.

The original $4.8 million development was to redevelop the site including new buildings for the accommodation wing and also retaining the historic building’s façade.

Mr O’Dea said the amended plans submitted to council outlined a renovation and fitout of the current buildings and no new buildings on the site.

He said the existing building was a “beautiful old building that has been there since 1946” and they intended to maintain the façade while redeveloping the internal structure for classrooms.

Residents aired their concerns to The Gazette in August, saying the site was not big enough to accommodate hundreds of students and called for increased onsite car parking to prevent local roads being inundated.

Mr O’Dea said “we listened to what the people were saying.”

He said residents had raised some valid concerns and they did not want to get local residents off-side.

Mr O’Dea said COVID-19 also had created a lot of uncertainty about the future of international students in Australia.

“We realised we might be setting ourselves up for a major fall so we have withdrawn the accommodation component.

“We think it could be four to five years before overseas students will be back to those numbers.

“We didn’t want a $5 million development for accommodation and have no overseas students. It would’ve only been a white elephant in the town,” he said.

But, Mr O’Dea did not rule out incorporating accommodation in the future. “The site allows it to be further developed in the future.”

The amended planning application is currently on public exhibition. Submissions close on September 23.