Tertiary centre supported Rodeo another COVID victim

A tertiary education centre catering for almost 200 students looks set to be developed at the old Miller’s Thread Factory in Warragul.

Baw Baw Shire Council has supported a planning application from Sutton Street Pty Ltd to establish the tertiary education facility within the existing heritage building.

The plans were significantly scaled down compared to the original $4.8 million development originally presented to council early last year.

The development no longer includes accommodation on the site and the total number of students will be reduced to 195.

The original development was for a facility catering for up to 600 students and on-site accommodation for 424 students.

When advertised, the application attracted 77 objections relating to the impact of the accommodation on the amenity of the surrounding area. Increased traffic, lack of on-site parking

Neerim Show’s popular rodeo will not be held this year – another victim of COVID-19.

The rodeo was scheduled to be held on January 23 but organisers decided because of changing restrictions and other related issues it would not be held.

Secretary Bernie McColl said the committee considered it unreasonable to request financial support from sponsors who had already had a tough year.

Ms McColl said the rodeo was a popular event on the show calendar and always attracted a large crowd. It was held at the Neerim Recreation Reserve and attracted competitors from throughout the state and interstate.

She said that would not be suitable because of various crowd restrictions.

Ms McColl said the committee was already working towards the 2022 event. and invasion of privacy also were raised as issues by residents.

In response to concerns, developers amended the application. Five objections were lodged to the revised application.

The campus will operate from 7am to 7pm on weekdays and 8am to 5pm on Saturdays.

The external façade of the building will be maintained.

Internal works at the building will be undertaken to provide for student spaces including classrooms, a gymnasium and student canteen. There will be 79 on-site car parking spaces.

Lease details of the registered training organisation that will occupy the building have not yet been released by developers.

Cr Darren Wallace said adult learning would be a new focus at the site that had been home to many things over the years.

He said the application complied with all the planning scheme clauses so he had no reason to not support the officer’s advice.

“I fully understand why there were objections to the original proposal by the amended application almost falls into line with as of right uses that it has been in the past,” he said.

Cr Jazmin Tauru said she was all for education and everyone being able to access it as easily as possible.

“This will enable students to access training for careers locally, which in turn keeps jobs local.

“We are so lucky to have another education option. We need to cater for individuals and locals seeking accessible education,” she said.

Cr Tricia Jones said the former rope factory site was a special place in Warragul and it was an appropriate site for an education centre.

She said she was pleased permit conditions included a process for residents’ complaints, which hopefully would not be needed.

Cr Danny Goss said it was one of the most difficult planning decisions he had made and had several conversations with residents.

He said the application complied with the planning scheme and he was not one for going to VCAT to contest something that would be overturned.

Cr Annemarie McCabe opposed the development saying there were still a lot of unknowns about the number of staff and students at the site.

She said she was not convinced 79 car parking spaces would be enough.

“Community concern about residential amenity is real and I can’t support this,” she said.

Cr Joe Gauci declared a conflict of interest in the matter.