Kids’ safety fears as Council KOs San Remo childcare centre

THE BASS Coast Shire Council has bowed to community objections and acknowledged their own concerns on Wednesday this week in rejecting an application for a 100-place childcare centre in San Remo.

Despite being presented with a recommendation from council’s planning officers, that the childcare centre application, at 89 Shetland Heights Road San Remo, ticked all the boxes, with conditions, Western Port Ward Councillor Jon Temby moved a motion to refuse the application.

Cr Temby read out a list of problems with the application, focusing on child safety at drop off times, the unsuitable location and the relatively small site for a 100-place centre but his Western Port Ward colleague, Cr Rochelle Halstead, said there were also a number of intangibles as well.

“As a San Remo resident who knows this site well, there are certain times of the year, when driving up the road from the Bass Coast College end, that the sun is shining directly in your eyes and you simply can’t see,” said Cr Halstead.

She said such issues couldn’t be addressed in a planning application but both the local council and the local community was well aware of this issue which would be a problem if families and children were crossing the road at these times.

Cr Halstead said local councils had been progressively robbed of their ability to address neighbourhood character and neighbourhood conditions and it was only when an application such as this came before the local council that you realised how crucial that local knowledge could be.

Most councillors spoke about the application, none of them in favour, but Cr Temby moved the alternate motion and summarised most of council’s concerns.

“There are many, many shortcomings in this childcare centre proposal. Approving it would create inconsistencies and breaches with our council's plans, strategies, and guidelines that include, but are not limited to its inappropriate location, no easy access to public transport, insufficient parking, commercialising residential areas, and numerous environmental breaches, as detailed in the alternate motion on the screen," said Cr Temby.

“We want and should support the development of a new childcare centre in San Remo. However, this proposal is far too big for the single block chosen, and should be built on a site where the personal safety of the children attending is given far greater priority, where public transport is available, where a loop road for off-street drop-off and pick-up is available, and where Shetlands Heights Road is not automatically congested to the detriment of all other users, including the emergency services and school busses.

“Despite the proponents' misinformation that the site was on 85 to 91 Shetland Heights Road, that it is spread over multiple blocks, it is in fact only a single smaller block at number 89 and the proponent cannot even provide sufficient parking for their own staff, let alone any safe space for ongoing child drop-off and pick-up needs.

“This misinformation makes me question the credibility of other details within the proposal. It is totally foreseeable that drop-offs and pick-ups will occur on both sides of the narrow Shetland Heights Road.

“When this occurs, the roadway becomes a narrow single-vehicle lane, assuming car doors on the right-hand side are closed. If roadway doors, on both vehicles are open, only motorbikes would be able to squeeze through.

“Road rage can be expected to occur regularly under the proponent's plan. This could physically and psychologically endanger the young families trying to use the facility.

“Apart from a number of environmental issues, including the need to notify the presence of the highly endangered Latham’s Snipe under the EPBC Act, Shetland Heights Road is used as the alternative highway when there is a highway incident on San Remo side of Potters Hill Road.

“If this occurs during drop-off or pick-up times, there will be total gridlock at the childcare centre. Increased risk to the safety of young children will probably move from very high to extreme when this gridlock occurs.

“It will also seriously delay all other road users, including the emergency services.

“This proposal may meet our very narrow planning act criteria, but it is way outside the accepted community safety expectations, and has attracted widespread, detailed, and justified objections. We should respect and reflect on those objections.

“In addition, we should actively work with the developer to locate and develop their proposed for a San Remo childcare centre on a much larger site that can accommodate sufficient parking for all staff and visitors, and has safe off-street drop-off and pick-up arrangements. I commend the alternate motion, as detailed on the screen, to all of you.”

Councillors voted unanimously to refuse the application, all expressing misgivings based on a demonstrated need for such a facility in the town.