A genuine follower of the debate in our local media would have seen overwhelmingly positive comments and strong community support for social housing. They would have acknowledged that objections are based on legal and practical issues, in our case some examples include school registration, child safety and wellbeing, fire exits and complete overshadowing of the entire school.
To the surprise of no-one, Wintringham and Beyond Housing continue to remain at a loss for logical arguments to build a four-storey building wrapping around and looming over a school.
In our discussions with the developers they could not bring themselves to acknowledge our students, our families and our teachers even when sitting in the children’s playground and outdoor learning space. They could not come up with any plans to accommodate a school fire exit in their development during or after construction. They could not demonstrate any understanding of school registration requirements. They could not provide addresses of any other sites they had considered.
Furthermore, they did not deny that this site was proposed directly by Greater Shepparton City Council. Not only that, but the plans provided to councillors to make their decision in principle were described as “back of the envelope plans”. How do “back of the envelope plans” meet any criteria for competence?
Combine this with the admission by Chris McNeill of Ethos Urban to a Shepparton resident that council provided the scope for the report, which did not mention the school, and the evidence points to all parties involved being told not to mention the school, not to talk to the school and not to acknowledge the school in the erroneous hope that we would look at the forces against us and roll over in the face of what still smacks of a very done deal.
Unfortunately, this total disregard for our school community appears to be driven by council, who before the paint was dry on our new school apparently recommended a development that could close it.
Given our unpleasant experiences being pressured to move from a site previously leased from council this is starting to feel like a pattern.
And this is what we find ‘rather ugly’.
Bronwyn Rose
Principal
Shepparton Ace Secondary College
