IN BREAKING news, the Department of Transport and Planning has listed on its website that the Minister for Planning, Minister for Suburbs the Hon Sonya Kilkenny has approved the application for a new secondary college to be established on Fullers Road at Foster.
The project which has been approved is a new secondary school, Corner Inlet College, specifically allowing “the use and development of a non-government secondary school and display of business identification signage”.
The approval has been issued directly under Ministerial Permit No: PA2302217. It has not passed through the South Gippsland Shire Council’s planning processes, although the council did acknowledge receiving a briefing about the project at a councillor-only meeting on July 12 this year.
At the time, Councillor Mohya Davies declared material conflict of interest in the planning briefing, item, listed as “625 Fullers Road, Foster”, as she owns a property near the subject site and left the meeting at 11.31am.
The college is set to be established on a 4 hectare site (10 acres), on land that is zoned ‘Farming’ (FZ) which has resulted in concerns being raised about biodiversity for local farmers with the Fullers Road area, south of Foster, being prime dairy and beef producing country.
The project is the brainchild of Jennifer Young. A participant in the South Gippsland Shire Council’s 2020 Community Leadership Program, Ms Young also completed a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership at Monash University in 2020-21.
Ms Young has confirmed this week, that pending Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority accreditation, the new college will be taking registrations from August 2024 with a view to opening in 2025.
They had hoped to be able to open in 2024 but in August this year the college board expressed its regret that “due to delays with our planning permit, the Corner Inlet College Board has made the difficult decision to postpone the opening of Corner Inlet College”.
They said they plan to reset and open in 2025 with Year 7 and Year 8, seeing the delay as something of a positive for their preparations.
"It's important to note that the closest neighbours to the site, which is only two acres in size, have not objected and the operation of the school will be barely noticeable," Ms Young said on Wednesday.
"The fact is that there are a lot of schools and school camps located adjacent to farm land with no problems, it's just that this is something new for South Gippsland.
"It's simply providing another education option for the people of Foster and the surrounding areas where we believe there is a gap in the non-government school space with students being bussed out of the area to Leongatha and elsewhere.
"There have been objections raised but none of them have been demonstrated as valid.
"This has in fact been a thorough process, following a standard application process for new schools," said Ms Young.
“Our aim,” she said on the college's website, “is to create a learning environment focused on equality; where respect for self, others, and the natural environment is embedded.”
“We value student-centred learning, and our ambition is for every Corner Inlet College student to enjoy equal opportunities and access to an exceptional learning program.”
The new college held a meeting of prospective parents and students on October 5 this year with families from Leongatha, Mirboo North, Sandy Point, Yarram, and points in between attending.
The planning department website lists the address of the new secondary college as 625 Fullers Road Foster.
Nearby resident and Foster business operator Julia Merrington is one of the objectors, but she says she has nothing against the plan to develop a new school, heading an “open letter” about the proposal as “Good Project, Wrong Location”.
“Neighbours on Fullers Road immediately adjacent to the proposed college were surprised and shocked when back in July 2023, they received written notification of an Application for Planning Permit Approval from the State Minister of Planning for a private Independent school of up to 90 children and 12 teachers,” Ms Merrington said, noting that those who received notification were only given 10 days to respond," Ms Merrington said.
“They rapidly learnt private and other schools can apply directly to the State Planning Minister for planning permits, without any of the normal Council checks and balances, process, appeals or notification.
“This process is designed for urban settings to fast track the application and minimise neighbours’ objections and is rarely used in a highly protected rural setting like 625 Fullers Road, Foster,” she said.
Ms Young says this is not the case, noting that the government adopted a direct process because needed schools were unnecessarily being held up by neighbours for no good reason.
“The proposed school is to be located seven minutes by car from Foster on a small paddock of private land approximately 1.5 hectares in an area, zoned farming," said Ms Merrington.
“Currently, cattle and sheep are being raised on this small hobby farms paddocks, which also hosts a home and a busy plumbing business.
“While the proposal is now advertised online, few locals know about it, because the “Public Notice” was a written notification of the application and directions to see the plans and put in submissions, sent only to a small group of immediate neighbours.
“Those who received notification by registered post, sent the 12th of July and received on the 13th or 14th of July were given just 8 or 9 working days until the 26Th ofJuly, to understand the highly technical planning documents (if they had access to the internet) and get in submissions, and were told from that date onwards the Minister is able to make a final decision on the application.”
Ms Merrington said the selection of the site and approval by the Minister for Planning was contrary to the government’s own site selection criteria:
“New school sites are generally best located close to the residential areas which generate student population, and near activity centres, where joint/shared use opportunities are greatest, and facilities are easily accessed by the community,” according to the Victorian Government ‘School Site Selection Criteria Guidance’.
“New school sites should not be located next or in close proximity to, any use that may be in conflict with the requirements of a safe school environment.
“Ensuring new school sites are located centrally within their catchments will help to encourage walking to and from school.”
Ms Merrington said the selection of the Fullers Road site was wrong in many ways, principally on environmental grounds and also for potential impact on farming operations in the area but she said the government had pledged to work in collaboration with stakeholders, including neighbours and local government.
Clearly this has not been done here, she said.
“Surprisingly it seems there is no legal requirement to advertise the proposed school to the rest of the Fullers Road or the Foster community, despite the fact, that the number of secondary students proposed is similar to those currently attending Fish Creek Primary School, should the school reach the proponents advertised expectations," she said.
“To be clear, the neighbours believe alternative school options that engage secondary students who may otherwise struggle with school can only be a good thing but we believe plans for new schools should also meet State and Education department planning guidelines including those for healthy future schools’ accessibility and transport protocols, as do notable successful Victorian independent schools, Woodleigh, and Village High School, Woodline.”
As a local real estate agent, Ms Merrington said she was aware of several sites, some of them former school sites, that would be eminently more suitable than the proposed location for the school, offering more space, better accessibility and fewer conflicts with the surrounding area.”
What happens now that the Planning Minister has approved it is anyone’s guess.
Ms Merrington says some of the neighbours will seek to have questions asked about the proposal in State Parliament and the South Gippsland Shire Council may yet raise objections, being concerned that the application was taken out of its hands, missing the opportunity to benefit from experience about possible implications.
It is not known if the council itself made a submission to the Minister about the proposal for a new private secondary college on Fullers Road.
Asked for comment, local MP Danny O'Brien said he was aware the application had received Ministerial approval but it was now up to the Minister to explain the reasons for her decision.
